Algeria Cuts Gas Supply to Spain, Raising Energy Concerns in Europe

"Will the Spaniards be able to heat themselves this winter without having to pay more? Not sure. As announced in August, Algeria has ended the supply of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline on Sunday. Inaugurated in 1996 and operated by the national giant Sonatrach, it transported 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Spain and Portugal via Morocco," the JDD develops in an article titled "Closure of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline: why Algeria is imitating Russia in the gas war".

For the newspaper, this non-renewal of the GME by Algeria has no other objective than to "punish" Morocco with which it broke off diplomatic relations in August, because the toll that benefited the kingdom "brought it up to 200 million euros per year," the newspaper recalls, recalling Algeria’s "constant support for the ’self-determination of the Sahrawi people’ in the Western Sahara" and the Algerian accusations that Morocco was behind the popular revolt of the Hirak and had supported the "terrorists" of the Kabylie forests.

To read: Algeria Cuts Gas Supply to Morocco, Shifts Pipeline Route to Spain

"The geopolitical gain of this new initiative is zero but the Algerian authorities don’t care, because the rise in gas and oil prices gives them leeway..." observes Pierre Razoux, academic director of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES). In recent years, Morocco "has taken the upper hand" in the crisis with Algeria, moving "from a defensive posture to an offensive diplomacy in Africa and particularly in the Sahel," analyzes for his part Flavien Bourrat, former head of the Maghreb program at the Institute of Strategic Research of the Military School (IRSEM). And he adds: "It is possible that Algeria is imitating Russia in its use of gas as a lever in political conflicts, as we have recently seen with Ukraine or Moldova."

For its part, Morocco is negotiating with Spain the possibility of importing gas via the same pipeline. Spain, for its part, should be content with the commitment of the Algerian authorities to continue to supply it with gas via the Medgaz pipeline and by multiplying deliveries of liquefied natural gas by methane carriers.