The Diplomat
The Spanish government has made a new gesture towards Morocco in its desire to put the diplomatic crisis that erupted last spring behind it and has made a commitment to Rabat to guarantee the country’s energy security, which is in danger due to the breakdown of relations with Algeria.
The Moroccan authorities asked Spain to facilitate the liquefied natural gas (LNG) that Morocco buys on international markets to be unloaded at a Spanish regasification plant and then use the Maghreb gas pipeline to reach its territory, according to Bloomberg.
In other words, the Maghreb gas pipeline through which Algerian gas used to reach Morocco and also Spain, and which was closed a few months ago by Algiers to punish its Moroccan neighbour, will now be used in the opposite direction to the one it has been used for the last twenty years.
Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, told Bloomberg that Rabat wants to sign agreements for at least five years to guarantee its LNG supply, for which it invited a group of operators to submit bids in early January.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, headed by Teresa Ribera, confirmed to Europa Press that Spain has responded positively to Morocco’s request “as it should do with any other partner or neighbour”.
This new Spanish gesture towards Rabat was made known yesterday in parallel to statements made by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, from the United Arab Emirates, in which he assured that with the neighbouring country there is “a very positive relationship”.
“We have always considered Morocco a strategic ally in many fields, such as immigration, economic development and security,” he said, adding: “We are looking forward to strengthening this bilateral collaboration.
The gesture now towards the neighbouring country is not minor, but could in turn have repercussions for relations with Algeria, Spain’s main gas supplier. Algiers broke off diplomatic relations with Rabat last August and in November shut down the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME).
This pipeline connects Algeria with Spain via Morocco, so that with its closure Morocco, in addition to losing the million-dollar ‘rights of passage’ it received from gas traffic, saw its energy supply endangered, especially for the two combined cycle plants of Tahaddart and Ain Beni Mathar, which cover around 10% of the country’s electricity production.
