Algerian gas deliveries to Portugal and Spain do not pass through Morocco
Algerian gas deliveries to Portugal and Spain will no longer use the pipeline that passes through Morocco and will be carried out exclusively by Medgaz, which already serves the Iberian peninsula, Algerian and Spanish officials said this Wednesday.
Algeria exports around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Spain and Portugal through the Gaz Maghreb Europe (GME), a pipeline that crosses Morocco, but Algiers decided not to renew this contract due to the serious diplomatic crisis between them. two countries.
The Medgaz pipeline has been transporting Algerian gas to the Iberian Peninsula since 2011, but it is already operating at its maximum capacity of 8 billion cubic meters per year, or half of Algeria’s annual exports to Spain and Portugal.
The subject was at the center of talks today between the Spanish minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and the Algerian minister of Mines and Energy, Mohamed Arkab.
According to the Algerian news agency APS, cited by France-Presse, the Algerian minister reassured Spanish partners that “Algeria will fulfill all gas supply commitments through the Medgaz pipeline.”
This will be ensured, according to the minister, through an increase in Medgaz’s capacity and an increase in liquefied natural gas exports by sea.
Traditionally difficult, relations between Algeria and Morocco have deteriorated in recent months, mainly due to the question of Western Sahara, territory that Rabat controls about 80% but where Algiers supports the separatists of the Polisario Front.
In late August, Algeria broke diplomatic ties with the neighboring country.