Algeria is Spain's leading gas supplier

Algeria regained its position as the main Spanish supplier of natural gas in January. It supplies a quarter of the European country's monthly demand, gas network operator Enagas (ENAG.MC) said on Thursday.

According to Enagas, 25%, or 8,545 GWh, of total gas deliveries to Spain in January this year came from Algeria. The two countries are linked by the 757-kilometre Medgaz undersea pipeline.

While Algeria had been exporting the largest volumes of gas to Spain on a monthly basis since Enagas' records began in 2006, it dropped to second place behind the US in January 2022, following the diplomatic crisis with Spain.

The former Maghreb-Europe GME pipeline, which runs through Moroccan territory, was closed in the fourth quarter of 2021 after clashes between Algiers and Rabat, while diplomatic tensions with Madrid erupted when the Spanish government changed its position on the Western Sahara issue.

Sonatrach and Spanish energy group Naturgy (NTGY.MC) have established a new price applicable retroactively for volumes delivered until the end of 2022 and have also agreed to continue price negotiations this year.

Algeria, through Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab, declared that it would respect its contractual obligations to supply gas to Spain, despite the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.