Algeria Halts Gas Pipeline to Spain, Opening Door for Israeli Energy Exports

In search of new markets for its gas fields, Israel could benefit from the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline crossing Morocco, analyzes the Middle East Monitor site. Tel Aviv could thus offer to supply Rabat with natural gas to meet the needs of its markets, in replacement of Algerian gas. Supplying Madrid and neighboring markets with Israeli gas would also be conceivable.

The end of the Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline comes in a context marked by the rupture by Algiers of its diplomatic relations with Rabat. Before the Algerian decision, Morocco had announced that it would not block the GME file. "It is our will, as we have expressed verbally and in writing, publicly and in private discussions, always with the same clarity and consistency," said Amina Benkhadra, director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM).

For its part, Algeria, which feared the non-renewal of the contract by Rabat, had taken certain measures. In July, the president of the Algerian national energy company (Sonatrach), Tewfik Hakkar, and the president of the Spanish company Naturgy had formalized the agreement for the commissioning of the extension of Medgaz, the submarine gas pipeline between Algeria and Spain. On Wednesday, Sonatrach announced that it had increased the annual transport capacity of Medgaz from eight billion cubic meters to 10.5 billion cubic meters.