Spain depends a little more on liquefied natural gas (LNG) Russia’s efforts to reduce Russian energy imports so as not to finance its invasion of Ukraine, which Europe is helping economically and militarily. Traders, mainly Naturgy and Repsolincreased the Spanish market’s dependence on Russian gas from January to August to reach 34% of total consumption, according to the Center for Research in Energy and the Environment (CREA). Last year it was 28% in the same period. The total amount paid by Spanish companies to Russia and its president, Vladimir PutinThis year, it amounts to 1.4 billion euros.
The numerous calls from the Minister of Ecological Transition, Therese Riberato companies reducing their purchases of Russian gas, were more for show. Because the reality is that more than two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Spain’s dependence on Putin’s LNG is even greater. The only bright spot is that in volume terms, Russian gas imports have fallen by 6.5% this year, according to CREA, due to the drop in gas consumption in Spain – mainly that used to generate electricity in combined-cycle power plants.
The data from this private investigation agency is on the same path as that published by Enagasthe manager of the Spanish gas market. According to Enagás, until August of this year, Russia supplied 22.8% of the total gas imported by the country, while in 2023 it was 19.7%. Russia has become the second largest gas supplier to Spain, ahead of the United States and behind Algeria.
In 2023, Spain was already the largest importer of Russian gas in the European Union. Naturgy has publicly explained on several occasions that these were long-term contracts signed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and that breaking them unilaterally would mean facing multi-million dollar demands.
And while Spain’s dependence on Russian LNG increases, Brussels continues to approve sanctions against Russia. The last one dates back to June, the 14th package of measures against the invading country, which includes the limitation of transshipments between ships in European ports for export to other countries, mainly China.
The Spanish government has already taken advantage of the approval in Europe of these limitations for 2025 and has already given the green light to a handful of restrictions aimed at hindering the export of Russian gas from Spain to countries outside the EU. Now, according to the measures agreed by Ribera and Enagás, ships that want to export Russian gas to a country outside the EU will have to prove that they have stored in Spain the equivalent of the gas they want to export. from 15 days before and that it does not come from Russia.
This measure will limit Russian exports from European ports, but the impact on Russian revenues from energy sales will be limited. And the European Union countries have not agreed to approve the most effective measure: the veto on the purchase of Russian gas, as the purchase of oil was vetoed at the end of 2022.
Overall, oil, gas and coal, Russia is seeing its revenues from energy exports decline. In August, for the fifth consecutive month, Russian revenues from fossil fuel exports fell by 8%, although they remain at €636 million per day.
