Spain’s natural gas exports to Morocco have surged, rising from 7.7% to 18% of the country’s total exports in 2024, according to a report by the Spanish media outlet “Vozpópuli.” The increase comes as Spain reduces its gas supplies to other European countries.
In June 2024 alone, natural gas exports to Morocco accounted for 18.5% of Spain’s total exports, a sharp increase from just 0.1% in June 2022, the report explains.
While Spain has increased its gas exports to Morocco, it has scaled back supplies to other European countries, most notably Italy.
In 2023, Italy received 18.4% of Spain’s exported gas, primarily through shipments from Barcelona to Livorno on the West coast. However, by June 2024, this figure had dropped significantly to 4.4%.
The rise in exports to Morocco is being facilitated through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline, which has seen increased use amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between Morocco and Algeria.
In 2021, Algeria halted its gas supply to Morocco through this pipeline due to strained diplomatic relations.
A year later, Morocco began importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the international market, despite lacking the infrastructure to regasify LNG domestically.
To address the issue, Morocco struck a deal with Spain to use their facilities for regasification, which involves sending the gas back to Morocco via the Maghreb-Europe pipeline in reverse flow.
Over the past year, the shipments have reached a staggering 9,338 gigawatt hours (GWh), marking a 155-fold increase from two years prior.
With the increased flow of gas from Spain, Morocco has been able to reopen two of its largest electricity-generating plants, located in Tahaddart and Ain Beni Mathar.
The country is currently moving towards developing its domestic LNG infrastructure to reduce reliance on Spain.
In March, five Moroccan state bodies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aiming to develop the country’s LNG infrastructure.