Spain's Bid To Become EU Natural Gas Hub Stymied By Western Sahara Issue

In its new bid to cut its dependence on Russian gas, Europe is looking in all directions. More shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are coming from the west as agreed to on March 25 by US President Joe Biden and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Photo Insert: Enagás, S.A. operates the nation's gas grid and owns four liquefied natural gas regasification terminals.

They may also come from the east after Germany signed a March 20 deal with Qatar, Albert Guasch Rafael reported for Foreign Policy.

The continent, however, is not yet ready to cut off Russia. Not only are the European Union’s links to Russian gas too strong—gas exports from Russia account for around 40 percent of the EU’s supply—but many countries also lack LNG regasification terminals, and the infrastructure necessary to store and convert LNG back into its gaseous state.

Other than Russia, there are few nearby countries able to fill the EU’s energy gap. Except maybe to the south.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Spain is pushing to become a hub that carries natural gas to the rest of Europe. Spain has six LNG regasification terminals that provide 35 percent of the EU’s storage capacity, by far the biggest in EU. These terminals also operate well below full capacity.

Most critical is Spain’s proximity to Algeria, a country with substantial natural gas reserves. Altogether, Madrid has a far more secure supply than other European countries and zero to no dependence on Russian gas.

Yet, Spain’s recognition of Morocco’s administrative control of Western Sahara has stumped Algeria, a staunch ally of Western Sahara’s independence cause. Algeria said it was “surprised by this sudden change of position” by Spain and immediately withdrew its ambassador in Madrid, Said Moussi, in protest.

Algeria’s TSA news agency quoted a senior official who described this as “the second historic betrayal of the Saharawi people by Madrid” — after it handed the colony to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975, Guy Hedgecoe reported recently for Politico. Last year, Algeria supplied nearly half of Spain’s natural gas.

In the context of the European energy crisis, aggravating a major supplier could seem foolhardy. The conservative former prime minister, José María Aznar, said Sánchez had made “a mistake with historic consequences for which we will pay dearly.”

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