Alberto Fernández: "Argentina can be a supplier of liquefied gas with Spain and distribute it to Europe"
The Argentine president held a meeting lasting just over an hour with the president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, at the Moncloa Palace. During the meeting, the Argentinean president offered his country as a supplier of products such as natural gas, wheat, sunflower oil and fertilisers. Alberto Fernández also met with King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace.
At the end of the meeting between the two leaders, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, who is accompanying the Argentine president on his European tour, announced that "the Spanish president told us that he is thinking of a scenario in which the consequences of the war in Ukraine in terms of food and energy prices are going to extend over time and where Spain needs to find new suppliers, especially for wheat, sunflower oil, fertilisers and natural gas", according to the newspaper Ámbito.
With regard to gas, the same newspaper reports that talks have begun between the two countries for Spain to invest in Argentina with the aim of building a gasification plant to produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) that can be exported to Spain. After the meeting, Alberto Fernández told Radio Televisión Española that the two countries have a "good synergy" and a great opportunity ahead of them. "Spain has 30% of the plants that regasify liquefied gas and we can make an agreement to be suppliers of liquefied gas to Spain. This way it is distributed from Spain to the rest of Europe and it is a project that we have for three years, so we need financing," he said.
Alberto Fernández is trying to get Argentina onto the list of countries supplying gas to Europe. During his European tour, the Argentine president visited Spain, Germany, where he met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and France, to talk to their leaders about the war in Ukraine and to propose solutions to the current economic crisis that is affecting Europe in particular. During his visit to Spain, the president discussed this possibility, since Argentina is the second largest exporter of liquefied gas in the world, and Spain has six regasification terminals. Among the solutions proposed by Alberto Fernández is the construction of the new Patagonia gas pipeline, which will not only generate Argentina's energy self-sufficiency", but will also open up the possibilities "of becoming a natural exporter of liquefied natural gas".
Faced with the gas supply problems that Europe is experiencing as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Spain has taken on a leading role as an exporter. Between March and April, the Iberian country increased its capacity to send gas to France via pipelines by 172.5%. The two pipelines that cross the Pyrenees to France, those of Larrau and Irún, have been working at maximum capacity since the beginning of the invasion. However, if new suppliers do not appear, Spain fears that in the coming winter citizens could suffer gas shortages, according to the daily El Español. Today we cannot replace the 150 bcm (billion cubic metres) of gas that Europe receives from Russia", said Josu Jon Imaz, Repsol's CEO; "there is no way to cover practically 40% of this gas" in Europe and this will cause "brutal tension", he added. Imaz warned that consumption must be reduced, and renewable production must be accelerated as much as possible. "We need to reflect on how we deal with the security of supply risks that may arise over the coming months", he said and warned. He also said that there is currently a security of supply problem that in the next six or seven months "is going to have a dramatic impact".
America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra
