2023-06-05 21:30:01
He Russian port of Sabetta it is literally at the end of the world, about 600 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun disappears for three months of the year and temperatures drop below minus 50 degrees. From there they all leave barcos metaners that have supplied with Russian gas Spain since he Kremlin decide invade Ukraine and dynamit the European security architecture. This liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in Russia has helped Spaniards and Europeans get through the winter without blackouts or more scares than the monthly bill. But it has also become an annoying subject for Spainas the country became one of the world’s top importers of Russian LNG. A trade dominated by a few companies that is enriching several oligarchs close to the Kremlin and indirectly feeding them public coffers with which Russia finances its war.
The russian gas purchase and totally legal Unlike what has happened with oil, diesel and coal, the European union has not imposed yet gas penalties in order not to contribute to the pressure on prices, which went up by 10 last year, or risk the security of supply. A factor that makes it extremely difficult for the companies with contracts in Russia they can invoke one “cause of force” major to terminate them. And since the beginning of the invasion, Spain has been one of the best customers of the gas industry of the Slavic country.
Their Russian LNG imports they increased one 55% in 2022 and they continued to grow in the first four months of this year one 58% with respect to the same period of the previous year. If you compare those 14 months with those that preceded the start of the war, they have almost doubled, according to data from the Strategic Reserves Corporation (Cores). “The even and the problems of the French nuclear park have forced to increase the consumption of natural gas by produce electricityespecially to meet the needs of our neighbors, Portugal and France“, say sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition. “All this has led to this increase in the arrival of gas from Russia and other countries, such as the USA.” Since the beginning of the year, Russian gas has covered the 17% of the supply in Spainonly surpassed by Algeria i the usaboth with 24%, according to Enagás’ accumulated data up to the month of April.
Fifth world importer
In the EU, only Belgium has mattered more this 2023, while, in global terms, Spain appears as the fifth largest buyer of Russian LNG since the beginning of the invasion, only surpassed by Japan, belgium,China and France, according to data from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). This reality, which makes the Government uncomfortable, is widely known. Much less is known, however, from which companies are importing Russian LNG. And it is not known why the gas contracts are confidential and the energy companies have no interest in airing their commercial relations with Russia. In Spain, only enagas i Cores they say they know the names of the buyers, but after a long search EL PERIÓDICO was able to access the Kpler data, one of the few global consultancies that, after tracking methane ships arriving at port, tries to find out the name of the importing company. It doesn’t always succeed, so this newspaper has chosen to publish only the names of energy companies with imports that it has been able to verify or that Kpler identifies with a high level of certainty.
Since the invasion began and until the end of April five companies have brought Russian gas to Spain, according to these criteria. Nature is by far the main importerwith more than half of Russian gas purchases received in the spanish ports. Volumes that, according to the company, are in line with the amounts established in long term contract which he signed in 2013 with an international consortium led by Novatekthe largest independent producer of Russian gas, and began drilling in 2018. This contract does not expire until 2041 and contemplates the shipment to Spain of 37 metaners a l’any, although according to Kpler data, the company brought 40 ships from Russia last year. “We don’t carry anything outside of this contract, which is subject to compliance clauses. We are not profiting from the situation”, says Naturgy’s spokeswoman, Paula Zapata. The company says that annually it imports “about 3 trillion cubic meters», a figure that would be equivalent to 53% of all imports from Russia in 2022.
Naturgy, Total and the Swiss ‘traders’
Far from Naturgy appears the Spanish subsidiary of the Swiss energy Met, one of the 10 largest gas and electricity marketers in Spain, which has brought a minimum of two methane ships in the 14 months analyzed. “We do not comment on where exactly we buy the gas”, says the company. In the list also appear the subsidiaries of two other ‘traders’ with headquarters in Switzerland, Dxt i dishesalso with a minimum of two charters each.
The latest actor involved in the business is French Total Energy, with a single shipment that arrived in Spain in May 2022 and would have contracted days before the start of the invasion. “From the beginning of the war in UkraineTotal has not imported gas from Russia directly or indirectly to Spain with the exception of of a ‘spot’ shipment that was processed before the war”, says the company. the spot shopping they are those that are paid in cash for theirs immediate shipment. A more opportunistic type of business than the long-term contracts that Met, Dxt and Enet have also resorted to, according to Kpler data.
Despite not having imposed sanctions on gas, a factor that complicates the breakdown of its contracts for companies such as Naturgy, Brussels has conjured up end dependence on Russia in 2027 and days after the invasion he presented a plan for cut total purchases of Russian gas by two-thirds in 2022. Since then the imports by pipe have plummeted, as the Kremlin cut off supplies, but the maritime increased more than 30%.
Partly because of the famine in Belgium, France, Spain and Netherlands. “He European market has been very attractive for any LNG supplier and Iamal LNGthe main Russian supplier in Europe, is very close to the continent”, he says Anne-Sophie Corbeau from the Center on Global Energy Policy. “From a purely economic point of view, it makes sense for companies to buy in a nearby market and sell it in the EU, where they have been paid very high prices». As good a deal as Russian gas, adds Corbeau, has been American gas.
Gas re-export to Europe
Part of these imports have served to cover the holes of those countries that have stopped receiving Russian gas by pipe or that have significantly reduced it, such as Germany, poland i Italy. “With its excess of regasification capacitySpain has been the easier market for importerswho have then dedicated themselves to redistributing it where it was most needed, particularly north-west Europe”, he says Henning Gloystein, Eurasia Group analyst. According to the CNMV, Spain was the most important re-exporter of gas for Europe last year, mainly in Germany and Italy. They increased by 45%, one unprecedented figure.
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It’s been months since the Spanish government calls on importers to reduce their dependence on Russia and in March sent them a letter urging them not to sign new contracts in Russia or renew existing ones. “If we want to be consistent, we cannot continue to accept Russian LNG”, the minister told them Teresa Ribera in the missive, as published by ‘Bloomberg’. enagas, Axpo Iberia i Repsol they replied that they have not imported from Russia since the start of the military aggression.
“You can make one positive reading or one critical reading of the role played by Spain», says Gloystein from the Eurasia Group. “The positive thing is that their imports of Russian gas have helped solve the energy crisis, particularly in northern Europe. The negative is that some companies have profited while contributing income to the Russian Government through the taxes that Novatek pays to the country”, he adds. Only Spanish importers have left the Russian economy 3,489 million euros since the beginning of the invasion, according to CREA estimates.
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