Spain’s imports of Russian liquefied natural gas have soared 84% since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, underscoring Europe’s dependence on Moscow despite efforts to cut energy ties.
The European country has been forced to increase LNG purchases elsewhere after shipments from gas supplier Algeria declined following a diplomatic row between the two nations. Although Russia has reduced pipeline sales to Europe to a minimum, LNG flows rose by more than 30% last year.
The country’s reliance on Russian LNG is likely to attract the attention of EU politicians, some of whom are calling for Moscow’s revenue to be cut following the Ukraine invasion. The bloc’s energy chief, Kadri Simson, last week called for such shipments to be halted, saying European companies should not renew long-term contracts after current ones end. He did not announce any specific measures.
Spain is the EU’s top buyer of Russian LNG so far this year, followed by Belgium and France, ship tracking data on Bloomberg shows. It is also the biggest spender in the bloc — 944 million euros ($1 billion) — on oil and gas combined in Moscow, according to the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.
Spain only receives Russian gas as LNG, as its utility Naturgy Energy Group SA has a 20-year contract to buy the fuel from Yamal LNG in the Arctic until 2038. Imports between March 2022 and February this year increased to 61,344 gigawatt-hours, in comparison. with 33,305 gigawatt-hours in the same period of the previous year, according to data from the network operator Enagas SA. Fuel purchases in the US grew by 48% during the period.
Russian LNG accounted for 14% of Spain’s total supply during the period, an increase of 6.2 percentage points. LNG from Russia accounted for about 16% of total imports of the fuel into Western Europe last month, with the US delivering nearly half.
