Official document showing that it is the “main and only player”
Thus, the needs of Spain and Portugal will be guaranteed through “Medgas”.
Official Spanish data showed, on Monday, that Sonatrach boosted its gas exports to this European country last July, ensuring more than 56 percent of its needs, and this is a few months before the end of the supply contract through the pipeline passing through Moroccan territory.
In this context, it was stated in a document of the Spanish Energy Stocks Management and Control Authority (CORES), seen by Al-Shorouk, regarding the country’s imports of natural gas and liquefied natural gas for the month of July, that Sonatrach has pumped more gas into the Spanish market, coinciding with the beginning of a recovery. The economy is one of the consequences of the closure and the spread of the Corona pandemic.
The same document indicates that Sonatrach covered 56.1 percent of Spain’s gas needs alone in July 2021, with quantities amounting to 16,191 gigawatt-hours, noting that a share of the Spanish market during May and June was respectively 49 and 48 percent, 57 percent of the quantities. It entered Spain via pipelines and the rest via ships in the form of liquefied natural gas “GNL”.
It is also noteworthy that Sonatrach expanded month after month the difference from its competitors in the Spanish gas market, as Spain’s imports from the Middle East decreased by 78 percent, and also decreased from the Central and South America region by 61.3 percent, and North America by minus 44.5 percent, and Europe and Eurasia by (- 28 percent).
The quantities of Algerian natural gas represented about 13.505 gigawatts / hour, out of 16,191 exports of Algeria to Spain last July, while 2,687 gigawatts / hour were exported as liquefied natural gas “GNL”.
As is known, Spain contracted with Algeria in 2018 when renewing contracts with annual quantities of gas estimated at 9 billion cubic meters for a period of 10 years.
In this regard, sources in the energy sector explained to “Al-Shorouk” that after raising Medgas’ capacity to 10.5 billion cubic meters, which will be practical during next November, the bulk of it will be allocated to Spain and smaller quantities to Portugal, knowing that Portugal renewed contracts with quantities of 3 billion cubic meters. annually in 2019.
The source of “Al-Shorouk” explains that the remaining quantities, whether to Spain or Portugal, will be supplied via ships in the form of liquefied natural gas, which was stated by Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab a few days ago, when he stressed Algeria’s capabilities with regard to liquefied natural gas.
