The Diplomat
The Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, said yesterday, in relation to the announcement by the Algerian authorities to cut gas supplies to Spain if it is sent back to Morocco, that “the commitment with Algeria is that not a single molecule of the gas that arrives in Morocco can be attributed to gas from Algeria”.
During an event organised by Cadena Ser in Sevilla, Ribera, he insisted that for Spain it is “important to have good relations” with its neighbours, “both with Morocco and Algeria”.
“The agreement that we are making available in commercial terms is infrastructure for Morocco, but with the indispensable condition that it is Morocco that contracts the liquefied natural gas in volume through this pipe, in reverse, north-south, and that the origin of this gas and the place where this gas is unloaded is transparent and public, so that we can be sure that the volume, the origin and the destination comply with this commitment with Algeria”, she explained.
The minister had announced to the Algerian Energy Minister, Mohamed Arkaba, in an e-mail that Spain was going to authorise the reverse flow of the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline (GME) through which Algeria supplied the peninsula via Morocco until last November, when it was shut down. This announcement prompted a warning from Algiers that it will break its gas supply contract with Spain if part of what it sends to the country is diverted to another destination, in reference to Morocco.
Ribera, who described Algeria as “a reliable and trustworthy country”, acknowledged that for Algiers “it is enormously important that its gas does not reach Morocco. However, he indicated that the government believes that it is necessary to respond “to Morocco’s call for help in seeking an alternative to its electrical and industrial needs”, but guaranteeing that it will not be supplied with Algerian gas.
Yesterday, the Algerian government demanded that Madrid and Rabat certify the origin of each consignment of gas sent to Morocco, a requirement which, according to El Confidencial, is difficult to comply with, increasing the risk that the Algerian neighbour will end up denouncing its gas contracts with Spain. In the first quarter of this year, Algeria supplied 26.1% of the gas consumed by Spain through the Medgaz, the only gas pipeline still operating between the two countries”.
