Spain continues to receive gas from Russia. Last month, as the military occupation of Ukraine continued, Russian gas purchases concentrate 8.7% of the entire country’s imports and vforgot to place Russia as the third largest supplier According to data from the latest statistical bulletin from Enagás, operator of the Spanish gas system (after leaving the podium and falling to 5.7% in February).
In the gas sector, it was underlined that the supply contracts with Russia are long-term and cannot be canceled without penal clauses, and it was underlined that the operations are completely legal considering that the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russian interests do not affect imports. natural gas. In any case, it was noted from the industry that these supply contracts with Russia were not extended due to future supply uncertainty.
The European Union began to impose sanctions against Russia, which included the following. initial purchase bans in the energy sector. For now, the ban is limited to coal imports, but Brussels estimates that the ban could also apply to oil and eventually natural gas from Russia if the EU steps in and decides to increase economic sanctions. Pressure on the government of Vladimir Putin. The EU has indeed approved a gradual reduction in Russian hydrocarbon purchases this year.
Spain Russian gas imports registered for 3,277 gigawatt hours (GWh) in March equivalents are almost the same as in the same month of last year and 50% more than in February. The government and the energy sector emphasize that Spain’s dependence on Russian gas is very low and the possibility of purchasing substitutes through other supplying countries will be possible, albeit at higher prices.
Energy companies, in any case, guard against uncertainty about the continuity of gas supply from Russia. decrease in purchases Algeria after shutting down one of the gas pipelines last October. The alternative is to increase US purchases of ship-borne liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In March, Spain confirmed itself as the largest gas supplier, multiplied by five gas imports from the United States, after ousting Algeria in January following the closure of the gas pipeline that also brought products from the North African country via Morocco. Last month, the US concentrated 43% of the country’s gas imports, while Algeria, Spain’s traditional main seller, weighed in at 29.6% of total gas imported.
The United States Government announced that it was vetoing oil, gas and coal imports from Russia as part of economic sanctions against the invasion of Ukraine, and the United Kingdom eventually approved a staggered plan to stop hydrocarbon purchases from Russia. of this year. The European Union, where some member states are much more dependent on Russian resources, plans to reduce its oil and gas purchases in a more measured way, with the aim of reducing it by two-thirds by the end of 2022.