Spain has emerged as a pivotal hub in Europe for gas trade
Spain has established itself as a major center for global gas sales, benefiting from historical shocks in energy markets and the geopolitics surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Across Europe, nations sought new sources of gas to reduce dependence on Russian supplies, and Spain’s extensive gas infrastructure became a key element in securing continental energy resilience, lifting re-exports to record levels.
In the most recent year, gas re-exports from Spain rose by another ten percent, reaching a new high of 75,300 gigawatt hours of equivalent energy, according to internal data from Enagás, the operator of the national gas system. This rise marks a fresh peak in the resale of gas and followed a rapid expansion of Spain’s sales to other European countries in 2022, when re-export activity nearly doubled to surpass 68,200 gigawatt hours, a growth of about ninety-one percent.
Persistent market uncertainty driven by the need to maintain supply amid geopolitical tensions has driven Spain’s gas system to yet another record this year. The country has leveraged its widespread regasification plants, which receive liquefied natural gas by ship and convert it back into usable gas, along with expansive gas pipeline connections to Europe, to boost resales to neighboring markets.
More gas pipelines, fewer ships
In 2023, gas companies operating in Spain accounted for seventy-one percent of all re-exports routed through pipelines. France, Portugal and Morocco increased their share from the prior year, while sales to France surged to twenty-two thousand nine hundred gigawatt hours. For Portugal, the figure more than tripled to three thousand five hundred eighty gigawatt hours, up sixty-six percent from the previous year.
Sales by ship from regasification plants were more modest, totaling twenty-two thousand one hundred gigawatt hours, down ten point eight percent. Nonetheless, Spain stood out as the non-producing country that generated the most liquefied natural gas for export last year, with LNG shipped globally and re-exported through facilities managed by Enagás and partners in the Spanish market.
With Russia cutting shipping gas via pipelines, European countries began seeking alternative suppliers around the world, often sourcing energy as liquefied natural gas that is transported by sea in its liquid form. This shift further underlined Spain’s role as a critical transit and export hub in the European gas market.
Spain’s network of six regasification plants, combined with its pipelines, positioned the country as a major European gas hub for arrival and re-export. The system concentrates a significant share of the European Union’s regasification capacity and stores a substantial portion of the continent’s LNG, reinforcing Spain’s strategic role in regional energy security.
Data from Enagás indicate that Spain can export about eight and a half billion cubic meters of gas annually to Europe through two pipelines to France, following a capacity expansion completed in November and aided by a new compressor in Irun. The system currently can ship an additional four billion cubic meters from regasification facilities, and further improvements could add nearly ten billion cubic meters if regasification capacity is optimized. Additionally, last year the Asturian El Musel facility was repurposed as an export logistics hub, representing a potential increase of around eight billion cubic meters in Spain’s transport capacity to Europe. These developments collectively illustrate how Spain’s gas infrastructure translates into tangible export potential for the continent. (Enagás)