España intensifica el envío de gas a Marruecos en plena crisis diplomática con Argelia
Spain has significantly increased its gas supply to Morocco through the pipeline that connects the Iberian Peninsula and the North African country via Tarifa (Cadiz). In November, the export of gas from Spain to Morocco through the Maghreb pipeline increased by almost 3.5 times compared to the average of previous months, at a time when the government of Pedro Sánchez maintains very good relations with the North African country.
Rabat, which has used the Maghreb gas pipeline in the opposite direction for the past 25 years, has found itself in the position of having to reverse the situation, since Algeria closed the section that runs through its territory and stopped sending gas from the Hassi R'Mel fields in November last year due to the conflict with Morocco. The North African country began sending gas through the Maghreb last June after Spain assured Algeria that Morocco obtains its gas from international markets and not from Algerian fields.
The gas purchased by Morocco will produce electricity at the country's only two combined cycle plants, Ain Beni Mathar, near the Algerian border, and Tahaddart, near Tangiers, in which Endesa has a stake. Specifically, the Spanish company owns 32%, the German company Siemens 20% and the rest belongs to the National Electricity Office (ONE), Morocco's sole electricity supply operator. The two plants produce 10% of the country's electricity and remained inactive until this summer after Algeria closed the gas pipelines. In November, 553 GWh came through this pipeline, compared with 328 GWh in October and 123 GWh in September.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain continues to communicate with Algeria, although they explain that there is still no response. Algeria was irritated by the Spanish government's rapprochement with Morocco, in particular a letter from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Monarch Mohammed VI, in which Morocco's proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara under its sovereignty was said to be 'a more serious, credible and realistic basis for resolving the conflict'. The letter sent in April ended one crisis with Rabat, but opened another with Algiers. The two Maghreb rivals have been locked in a historic dispute and broke off diplomatic relations in July 2021.
Algerian authorities decided six months ago to suspend the Treaty of Friendship, Neighbourhood and Cooperation with Spain, calling Spain's change of position "unfounded". Algeria has also decided to freeze the bank records of Spanish companies in the country in order to curb the economic activities of these companies. A surprising decision that even the European Union opposes. The Algerian Foreign Ministry itself denies that economic reprisals have been carried out, despite the fact that Spanish companies are still unable to operate normally.
Meanwhile, Israel's NewMed Energy and the Kingdom of Morocco signed an agreement to explore for and produce gas off the coast of the Sahara desert town of Boujdour. The memorandum extended the commitment for the next eight years. The agreement was signed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines in collaboration with the Moroccan company Adarco. The gas fields in the South Atlantic region extend over an area of almost 34,000 square kilometres. The joint territorial expansion would be equivalent to the area of the provinces of Zaragoza and Cuenca.
