Morocco Emerges as Major Buyer of Gas from Spain Two Years After Reopening Pipeline

Beni Mellal – Two years ago, in a significant diplomatic gesture, the Spanish government reopened the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline to supply gas to Morocco, reversing the usual flow direction after Algeria unilaterally decided to close it.

This move has positioned Morocco as the second-largest customer for gas re-exports from Spain, after France.

According to monthly records from Enagás, the operator of Spain’s gas system and major pipelines, and the Corporation of Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (Cores), Morocco has been making the most of the pipeline to secure its gas supply.

In January, Morocco even became the top destination for gas exports from Spain for the first time in history, accounting for 28% of all monthly exports, as reported by the Spanish news agency EPE.

So far this year, shipments to Morocco have accounted for 16.5% of all natural gas re-exports from Spain, a significant increase from the 12.5% share it achieved throughout the previous year and the roughly 5% it managed to concentrate in the second half of 2022 when the flow between Spain and the North African country began.

The gas shipments to Morocco have pushed the Maghreb-Europe pipeline to its limits, at times approaching its maximum pumping capacity of 960 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per month.

Over the past two years, there have been several months where more than 90% of this maximum pumping capacity has been utilized, with August of last year seeing a near-record high of 958 GWh sent to Morocco.

But Spain is not directly selling gas to Morocco. Rather, Spain’s role is limited to receiving ships carrying gas purchased by Rabat from any supplying country at its regasification plants and then sending it through the Tarifa pipeline to Morocco.

All gas re-exported from Spain to Morocco comes with a certificate and monitoring of origin to ensure that no molecules from Algeria are sent, as required by the Algerian government.

However, this gesture to Morocco has further strained the diplomatic clash between Spain and Algeria following the Spanish government’s change in position on Western Sahara. Madrid now supports Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis to end the dispute over the Western Sahara region.

The Algerian government has blocked commercial relations with Spain in retaliation, although it has begun to relax this blockade partially, while leaving its gas sales out of the boycott.

Algeria has also threatened to break gas supply contracts with Spanish companies if it detects that part of the gas ends up being resold to Morocco, with which it has also severed diplomatic relations over the Western Sahara issue.

The Spanish government completely denies the possibility of Algerian gas being redirected to Morocco and has activated a special plan to prevent such a scenario.