Why the visit to Argel de Albares is key and what to expect from Sánchez

In recent years, Spain has made a virtue of necessity. Being an energy island in Europe we had to wake up and diversify the origin of the gas. In the last year, 44.9% of the natural gas supply that we Spaniards have consumed has been of Algerian origin. While 14 other countries have contributed the rest, highlighting by weight Nigeria (11.6%), Russia (10.5%), the United States (9.6%) and Qatar (6.4%), according to data from Sedigas .

To bring gas from Algeria, Spain has two pipes. One that arrives through the Mediterranean to Almería with a capacity of 8 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas. And another that passes through Morocco, reaches Cádiz and has a capacity of 11 bcm.

In the midst of a diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Morocco and another global energy crisis due to high gas prices, closing the Maghreb-Europe pipeline to leave Rabat without income and complicate its supply this winter is a temptation for Algiers.

The tensions and strains between Mohamed VI and the Government of Pedro Sanchez in recent times they had caused Morocco to delay the closing of the renewal of this concession. The Alawite kingdom did not have the ability to Reynés to close an agreement with Sonatrach that would guarantee the supply of gas to Spain with a reinforcement of the Mediterranean tube. Nor with the strategy of Llardén to establish a ‘Winter Plan’ with alternatives to supply in case any of these infrastructures fail.

So, at the last minute, Morocco turns out to be the great interested in closing this three-way agreement with Spain and Algeria, which is now being held back by the Algerian Minister of Energy, Mohamed Arkab.

However, this does not mean that the trip of Albares, Reynés and Llardén to Algiers is no longer important. It is in Spain’s interest to keep alive this infrastructure that dates back to the times of Pedro Durán Farrell as president of Gas Natural in the reign of Juan Carlos I, great friend of the Moroccan monarch.

First, because until the energy sovereignty of the peninsula is reinforced with renewables – a goal for which there is still a long way to go – maintaining the diversification of the origin of energy and of transport routes is necessary for the Spanish market. In particular, in the case of gas, which is an energy source that must play a key role in the ecological transition, as the Government has recalled on behalf of the IFM takeover bid for Naturgy.

But also because geopolitical tensions and Russia’s gas games have once again highlighted the opportunity for Spain to be a hub of gas that allows the re-export of its excess capacity to other European countries.

This project, which has been talked about for years, has a handicap that also affects our electricity market: the poor interconnection of the peninsula with northern Europe.

France has not had a special interest in recent years to help Spain with this pending issue. And what until now had made us more vulnerable to an energy crisis has turned against other European countries that would depend less on Russia in this frigid winter that comes with high gas prices.

So, if Albares succeeds and convinces your Algerian colleague, Ramtane lamamra, that the contract with Morocco must be unblocked, the next thing to do Pedro Sanchez is to travel to Paris to ask the president Macron a change of perspective in the cross-border interconnections of the Pyrenees.

We would stop being an energy island and this time our European partners would also benefit, if only by sending a message to Moscow in this new ‘post-Merkel era’.

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