At the end of this year, Spain will acquire a record volume of Russian gas in the entire history of the country’s gas system.
Photo: Shutterstock
At the end of this year, Spain will acquire a record volume of Russian gas in the entire history of the country’s gas system. According to the newspaper El Mundo, citing data from the national grid operator Enagás, during the last ten months of 2023 Russia sent 12.8 percent more gas to Spain than in all of 2022. The impressive growth in supplies highlighted a once again the strategic importance of the energy relationship between Moscow and Madrid.
In 2018, Russia represented only 2.4% of the total volume of gas supplied to the kingdom, but already in June of this year our country held first place in terms of LNG supplies to Spain. And at the beginning of December, Madrid purchased the equivalent of 60,770 GWh of gas from the Russian Federation, compared to 42,453 GWh in the same period of 2022, that is, approximately 43% more.
“2023 will end up being the year in which the Spanish gas system receives the most Russian gas in its entire history,” the article summarizes.
The Spanish Ministry of Energy has repeatedly highlighted the economic disadvantage for Madrid of rejecting the long-term contract between the Russian PJSC Novatek and the Spanish Naturgy, signed in 2018. According to the ministry, the agreement, which provides favorable conditions for the Russian gas supply below market prices is a key element of the country’s energy strategy, despite EU sanctions.
In addition to Russia, the African continent previously played an important role in the kingdom’s energy mix. However, in 2021, diplomatic infighting between Algeria and Morocco ended with the closure of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which in turn caused a disruption in fuel supplies to Spain.
The Russian ambassador in Madrid, Yuri Klimenko, pointed out that in Spanish society there is a demand to improve political relations between our countries. According to him, throughout its more than 500 years of history, such a fabric of cultural and humanitarian ties has been created that “the opponents of Russian-Spanish friendship cannot break.”
“The epidemic of Russophobia that has spread in the public space of Spain and other Western European countries has led large sectors of society to acquire a certain immunity to anti-Russian falsifications,” Klimenko added. – In personal conversations, many admit that the sanctions imposed by the EU affect Spain’s national interests, depriving it of one of the key markets for its products and the influx of Russian tourists.
READ ALSO
Spaniards in Russia: “We don’t want to leave, it is safer here than in the European Union”
Russia is a country of opportunities with kind-hearted people and a rich culture, they believe (more)
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS