Morocco's Evolving Relationship with Spanish Natural Gas
In recent years, Morocco has emerged as a significant destination for natural gas exported from Spain. During the peak of the energy crisis, the Spanish government extended its support to Rabat, reopening the underwater gas pipeline that traverses the Strait of Gibraltar in June 2022. This pipeline, which had been unilaterally shut down by Algeria months earlier, saw a reversal in the direction of its gas flow. Since then, instead of transporting gas to Spain as it traditionally had, the pipeline has been utilized to send gas to Morocco.
This shift has led to a steady increase in gas shipments to the North African nation, consistently breaking records each year. However, recent months have witnessed a dramatic change in this trend, with Moroccan gas purchases from Spain experiencing three consecutive months of significant declines. The volume of gas transported has plummeted to its lowest level in nearly four years, marking a stark contrast to the early months following the pipeline's reopening in October 2022.
As of this year, Morocco has imported a total of 2,319 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of natural gas from Spain, reflecting a steep decline of over 24% compared to the same period last year, according to Enagás, the operator of the Spanish gas system and manager of its extensive gas pipeline network. The downward trend has been pronounced over the last three months, with import reductions of 54% in April, almost 40% in March, and 18% in February.
Implications of the Gas Pipeline Dynamics
Since the reversal of the gas flow in the Maghreb-Europe pipeline, gas shipments to Morocco have been on the rise. In 2023, the first full year of utilizing the pipeline for exports to Morocco, a total of 9,471 GWh was recorded; this figure increased by 2.8% the following year to reach 9,703 GWh, culminating in a record 10,375 GWh last year, marking the largest annual increase to date at 7%.
The revitalization of the gas pipeline was a strategic gesture from the Pedro Sánchez administration towards Morocco, aimed at mending the strained relations between the two countries after years of diplomatic distance. It provided Morocco with essential natural gas supplies after Algeria's decision to close the pipeline. Morocco has capitalized on this gesture, consistently maximizing the gas pipeline's pumping capacity. Last year, over 90% of the total capacity of the pipeline, which reaches up to 11,500 GWh annually, was utilized.
It is important to clarify that Spain is not directly selling gas to Morocco. Instead, Spain plays a facilitating role by receiving ships carrying gas purchased by Morocco from various suppliers, predominantly from the United States. This gas is then transported through the Tarifa gas pipeline to Morocco. All reexported gas from Spain to Morocco is accompanied by certificates and origin monitoring to ensure compliance with Algerian regulations that prohibit any gas molecules from Algeria.
This diplomatic gesture in 2022 strained Spain's relations with Algeria, which has traditionally been the main gas supplier to the Spanish market. The shift in Spain's stance on Western Sahara, now supporting Morocco's autonomy plan—strongly opposed by Algeria—has further exacerbated these tensions. In fact, the Algerian government imposed a blockade on commercial relations with Spain for over two years (from mid-2022 to nearly the end of 2024), although they exempted gas sales from the boycott. Algeria also threatened to terminate gas supply contracts with Spanish companies if there were indications that its gas was being resold to Morocco, a country with which Algeria has severed diplomatic relations over the Western Sahara issue.
In 2025, Morocco became the second-largest destination for gas reexports from Spain, accounting for nearly 26% of the total reexport volume, trailing only France, which combined purchases from both pipelines and ships accounted for about 35% of gas shipments leaving Spain to other countries, according to the combined records of Enagás and the Corporate Reserve of Strategic Petroleum Products (Cores).
As reported by elperiodico.com.
