The weight in Spain of oil imports from the Middle East has decreased significantly since 2019, a year in which crude oil from this region reached 15.4% of the total purchased by the country, compared to a percentage of 8, 6% between January and August. of this year, the latest data available.
This is reflected in the statistics of the Strategic Petroleum Products Reserves Corporation. (Cores), which also show that the oil dependence of this region, at the center of the war conflict around Israel, has declined sharply so far this year, since in 2023 it reached 11.7%.
Specifically, so far this year, Middle East oil imports reach 3.83 million tonnes (Mt), 23.3% less than the previous year. Among them, 2.54 Mt arrived from Saudi Arabia, or 10.7% less, and 1.28 Mt from Iraq, or 40.1% less.
Much of the gap left by Arab countries’ crude oil this year was taken up by Central and South America, whose oil rose from 13.7% in 2019 to 21% this year, with an increase particularly significant compared to 2023, where it represented 16.5%.
Indeed, crude oil from these countries increases by 43.2% between January and August 2024, to reach 9.29 Mt. It is mainly concentrated in Brazil, with 6.11 Mt, or 61.2% more, and Venezuela, which increased by 148.4% up to 2.6 Mt, surpassing Saudi Arabia.
However, before 2024, The region that has most increased its oil contribution to Spain is North America.which increased from 14.9% in 2019 to 30.3% in 2023, a percentage which increased by another three tenths this year, to 30.6%.
This region, made up of the United States, Mexico and Canada, sent 13.55 Mt of oil to Spain until August, 7.7% more than the previous year.
Despite this increase, Africa has regained its leadership in the supply of this material bonus to Spain, with 32.5% until August. Countries on this continent sent 14.4 Mt of crude oil to the country, or 23.3% more.
Thus, the downward trend known since 2019 changes, going from 36.7% of the total to 30.1% at the end of 2023, behind North America.
Finally, Supply from Europe and Eurasia continues to declinealso affected by Russian oil limitations due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, it fell from 19.2% in 2019 to 7.2% so far in 2024, after closing 2023 at 11.3%. This year, it is down 42.4%.
