The Diplomat
Spain increased its natural gas purchases from Russia by 102.19% in August compared to the same month last year, while imports from Algeria in the same period fell by 34.8%, according to Enagás’ Statistical Bulletin.
Specifically, Spain bought 4,505 gigawatt hours (GWh) of Russian natural gas in the eighth month of the year, compared with 2,228 GWh in August 2021, while 9,127 GWh arrived from Algeria, when 13,397 GWh were imported a year ago.
The United States remains the main gas supplier with 10,074 GWh, a year-on-year increase of 92.22%. Also noteworthy is the increase in natural gas from France, from where 4,688 GWh arrived, 95.5% more than the 2,398 GWh purchased from France in August 2021.
In addition, purchases from Nigeria fell by 3.8%, as 5,835 GWh of gas was purchased in August 2022, compared to 6,067 GWh the previous year. In total, in the eighth month of the year, Spain bought 38,066 GWh of natural gas, 3.43% more in year-on-year terms.
As for the relative weight of each country in total Spanish natural gas imports in August, the United States remained the main supplier, accounting for 26.5% of purchases, followed by Algeria (24%), Nigeria (15.3%), France (12.3%) and Russia (11.8%).
Of the total imports recorded in the month, 36.7% came via existing gas interconnections and 63.3% via LNG carriers in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).