The Diplomat
The Vice-President and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, yesterday received guarantees from her Algerian colleague, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, that Algeria will maintain the level of gas supplies to Spain, despite the closure of the Maghreb gas pipeline that crosses Morocco, as of Sunday.
A couple of weeks ago, the Algerian authorities had already made a commitment to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to guarantee the arrival of gas to Spain, in view of the Spanish government’s concerns about the consequences of the diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Morocco.
This second visit by a member of the Spanish government to Algiers sought to ensure that the Algerian commitment was more specific about the way in which, at a time of serious energy crisis, the effects of the closure of the Maghreb gas pipeline, through which Spain receives some 6 billion cubic metres of gas, around a fifth of our country’s consumption, would be alleviated.
Yesterday, in a joint appearance with Mohamed Arkab, Minister Ribera thanked the Algerian authorities for their commitment to supplying gas to Spain and honouring the contracts signed by Spanish and Algerian companies. “The total guarantee has been made explicit with respect to the volumes agreed today,” she said.
The minister has explained to us,” he added, “how to be able to undertake this gas transport through the Medgaz pipeline, given that the contractual relationship with the Maghreb pipeline expires on 31 October, and how to complement it with liquefied natural gas, in accordance with a timetable that we have to specify in the best possible way to ensure that everything works as smoothly and as well as possible”.
Apparently, Algeria’s intention is to complete before January the expansion of the capacity of the Medgaz gas pipeline, which links the Maghreb country directly with the Iberian peninsula via Almeria, and which is owned by the Algerian state-owned company Sonatrach and the Spanish company Naturgy.
The pipeline currently carries 8 billion cubic metres of gas, and the idea is to extend it to 10 billion cubic metres. The remaining 4 billion, of the 6 billion supplied by the Maghreb pipeline, would arrive as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), via 48 LNG tankers.
