Russia is Spain’s No. 2 gas supplier as Algerian flows drop

Russia replaced Algeria as Spain’s second-largest natural gas supplier in June after flows from the north African country dropped amid a diplomatic spat.

Imports from Russia reached 8,752 gigawatt-hours in June, more than doubling from May and corresponding to 24% of Spain’s total demand, according to gas network operator Enagas SA. Deliveries from Algeria dropped to 7,763 gigawatt-hours from 9,094 gigawatt hours in May, about half the figure for June 2021 and now representing 22% of demand. The US remains the biggest supplier, with a 30% share.

The drop in gas flows from Algeria, historically Spain’s largest supplier, follows a diplomatic clash between the two countries after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s decision to support Morocco in a dispute over Western Sahara. While that’s increased Spain’s exposure to the geopolitical tensions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the share of imports coming from Russia is still much smaller than for some other European countries.

Last month, gas started to flow from Spain toward Morocco through the Maghreb–Europe pipeline, a link that usually sent fuel in the other direction and which Algeria halted last year. Algeria has said the gas it sends to Spain via another pipeline cannot be re-exported to Morocco.

Spain is also continuing to rely more on liquefied natural gas, which in June represented almost 77% of gas imports, a 29 percentage point increase from the same month in 2021. While Algerian gas is mostly sent to Spain via pipeline, with LNG representing only a small part, Russian supplies are all LNG.