Spain: historic record for natural gas exports to France via the Pyrenees

2023-05-11 14:30:00

ENERGY – Thanks to its two interconnections, Irún in the Basque Country and Larrau in Navarre, Spain set a record for the export of natural gas by pipeline to France during the month of April.

According to the press release published by the Spanish company Enagás on Monday May 2, the export of natural gas by gas pipeline to France is on the rise with a flow of 6.52 terawatt hours (TWh). This record exceeds that reached in May 2022, a period during which 5.9 TWh were transmitted.

Drop in production in France

In addition to the current energy crisis, it would seem that the strikes in France have led to a drop in local gas production, thus increasing its dependence on imports. In this context, the Spanish gas system “has demonstrated its ability to guarantee the security of supply to the neighboring country, by providing a constant and stable flow of natural gas”indicate Enagás.

Since the start of the energy crisis in 2022, Spain has only been able to produce 0.34% of the gas it consumes over a year. This figure also places the Iberian Peninsula in a situation of great dependence vis-à-vis foreign countries.

The same year, in the midst of a spiral of rising energy prices, purchases of gas by LNG tanker from the United States exploded in Spain.

In February 2023, the United States dethroned Algeria, historically a supplier of gas for almost half a century, and became the main supplier in Spain. Algeria is in second position, especially due to the closure of the Maghreb Europe gas pipeline (gas pipeline via Morocco) in October 2021.

In Spain, imports of Russian gas on the rise

In addition, Spain is a major gateway for Russian gas into European ports. Since the beginning of the year, the country has become the main European buyer of Russian liquefied gas. In February, natural gas imports from Russia to Spain increased by 151% compared to the same month in 2022. Despite the sanctions imposed by the European Union, Russia is the third supplier of natural gas to the Spain, with 17.2% of total imports.

With the sharp increase in liquefied natural gas purchases, the United States and Russia supplied more than 40% of the gas imported by Spain last year, compared to barely 2% of the total five years ago. early.

Thanks to a powerful regasification infrastructure, Spain transports a large part of its natural gas to other countries of the European Union with 90% of sales in the last twelve months (compared to 65% in 2021).

Gas exports from Spain have risen 88% since the start of the war in Ukraine to the equivalent of 73,186 gigawatt hours (GWh), according to records from the Strategic Reserves Corporation (Cores).