Spain doubles its purchases of Russian gas in August and imports from Algeria fall by 34.8%

The United States remains the main supplier and the natural gas that arrives from France has increased by 95% So far this year, Russia represents close to 11% of all gas purchases Spanish purchases of natural gas in the accumulated The first eight months of the year have grown by 13.89% Spain has doubled its purchases of natural gas from Russia in August compared to the same month last year, while the interannual evolution of imports of this raw material from Algeria fell 34.8%, according to the Enagás Statistical Bulletin published this Monday. Specifically, Spain has bought 4,505 gigawatt hours (GWh) of Russian natural gas in the eighth month of the year, compared to 2,228 GWh in August 2021, while that 9,127 GWh arrived from Algeria, when a year ago 13,397 GWh were imported. The United States (USA) remains the main supplier of gas with 10,074 GWh, which represents a year-on-year increase of 92.22%. It also highlights the increase in natural gas from France, of which 4,688 GWh arrived, 95.5% more than the 2,398 GWh that were purchased from the French country in August 2021. In addition, purchases from Nigeria were reduced by 3.8 %, given that 5,835 GWh of gas were purchased in August 2022, compared to 6,067 in the same month of the previous year. In total, in the eighth month of the year, Spain purchased 38,066 GWh of natural gas, 3.43% more than year-on-year terms. In terms of the relative weight of each country in total Spanish natural gas imports in August, the US 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 registered in the month, 36.7% came through existing gas interconnections and 63.3% through methane tankers in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) Purchases increased by almost 14% until August Spanish gas purchases natural gas in the first eight months of the year have grown by 13.89% in year-on-year terms, to 301,498 GWh. In that period, purchases from the US account for 32.1% of the total (96,683 GWh ), those of Algeria 24.4% (73,662 GWh), those of Nigeria 14.4% (43,467 GWh) and those of Russia 10.9% (32,770 GWh). In this sense, imports of natural gas Coming from the US until August they have increased by 270.6% in relation to the same period of the previous year, while purchases from Russia have increased by 22.89% and Nigeria by 53.8%. Gas purchases from Algeria have been reduced by 41.17%. This fall is mainly due to the decrease in the arrival of natural gas by gas pipeline, which went from 111,758 GWh in the first eight months of 2021 to 69,184 GWh until August 2022, that is, it has experienced a reduction of 38%. Exports with France With regard to exports with France, through the VIP Pyrenees interconnection, in August they stood at 1,597 GWh, compared to 898 GWh in the same month of 2021. Usually used to import natural gas from the neighboring country, Since the war in Ukraine broke out there has been a total change, making Spain an exporter to Europe. Already in April, an export figure from Spain to France of 5,618 GWh was reached and in May it increased by 10% compared to the previous month, up to the record figure of 6,185 GWh. However, in August that trend has been reversed and the balance has become an importer again, given that Spain has bought 4,688 GWh from the Gallic country. In August, ship unloading also increased by 12.1% compared to the same month of the previous year, to 24,097 GWh. However, the number of ships unloaded remained at 25, the same as in the same month of 2021.