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Rabat – The gas supply Morocco has been receiving via the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline is from the US and not Algeria, Spanish news outlet La Vanguardia reported on July 1.
According to the newspaper, the first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the US to Morocco was unloaded at the Bilbao regasification plant on June 28.
Amid an unprecedented energy and food crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Morocco has been able to secure gas supply to meet its domestic demands following the halt of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, the regional pipeline that used to supply Spain with Algerian gas via Morocco.
Algeria ended the contract for the pipeline in October 2021, a few months after announcing its sudden but expected decision to cut diplomatic relations with Morocco.
The halt of the contract stirred frustration among Spanish officials. In response, the Algerian government reassured the Spanish government that it would continue to supply Spain with gas through the Medgaz pipeline.
Following Spain’s decision to endorse Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most realistic, serious, and credible basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara, Algeria changed its tone with Spain and used gas as a political weapon to threaten the Spanish government.
As the main supporter of the Polisario Front’s separatist claims over the disputed region, the Algerian government notably threatened to cut supply to Spain if the Spanish government sells Algerian gas to Morocco.
Spain, however, has strongly denied having sent Algerian gas to Morocco. In April, The Spanish energy ministry said that the European country “limited itself to responding to the request for support expressed by its partner, Morocco, to ensure its energy security on the basis of commercial relations between the two countries.”
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For its part, Morocco announced that it would enter the international Natural Liquified Gas market for the first time to ensure that Algeria’s termination of the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline does not adversely impact its energy supply.
In June, Minister of Energy Transition Leila Benali said that Morocco was on the verge of signing its first purchase contract for liquefied natural gas in a bid to meet its energy demands amid the global energy crisis.
While it is unknown whether the contract Benali announced concerns the US gas sent to Morocco from Spain, the minister emphasized that Morocco succeeded for the “first time in its history” to access the international liquefied natural gas.
