Spanish liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports dropped in November while reloads rose compared to the same month last year, according to Enagas.
LNG imports decreased by 14 percent to about 22.8 TWh in November and accounted for 69.4 percent of the total gas imports. In October, LNG imports reached some 21.8 TWh.
Including pipeline imports from Algeria, France, and Portugal, gas imports to Spain reached about 34.5 TWh last month, a slight drop from some 34.7 TWh in November last year, Enagas said in its monthly report.
Moreover, national gas demand in November dropped by 6.8 percent year-on-year to some 26.1 TWh.
Demand for power generation declined by 35.5 percent year-on-year to about 6.1 TWh last month, while conventional demand rose by 7.9 percent to 19.9 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.
The firm previously said that August of this year marked the first time in its history that Spain has managed to fill 100 percent of its underground storage facilities.
Storage facilities were also full in October and November, according to Enagas.
Enagas operates a large network of gas pipelines and has four LNG import plants in Barcelona, Huelva, Cartagena, and Gijon.
It also owns 50 percent of the BBG regasification plant in Bilbao and 72.5 percent of the Sagunto plant, while Reganosa operates the Mugardos plant.
In August, Spanish power group Endesa delivered the first commercial cargo to the El Musel LNG terminal in Gijon.
Enagas awarded the logistics services contract to Endesa in July and it also completed the sale of a 25 percent stake in the El Musel LNG terminal to Reganosa.
US and Algeria biggest LNG suppliers
The seven operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals, unloaded 25 cargoes last month, down by five cargoes compared to November 2022, according to Enagas.
The US was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain for the second month in a row in November with about 12.7 TWh, up from 8.17 TWh last year, followed by Algeria with 9.35 TWh, a rise from 6.39 TWh in November 2022.
Nigeria was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in September and the US in August. Prior to that, Russia was the biggest supplier for three months in a row.
Spanish LNG terminals received 6.43 TWh from Russia in November, up from 5.95 TWh last year, while Nigerian volumes reached 3.7 TWh, and Qatari volumes reached 0.87 TWh, the data shows.
LNG reloads rise
Spanish LNG terminals loaded about 2.79 TWh in November, up 41 percent compared to some 1.98 TWh in November 2022 and also slightly up from about 2.66 TWh in October.
The Sagunto LNG terminal reloaded about 1.84 TWh of LNG, followed by the Cartagena terminal with about 0.48 TWh and the Barcelona terminal with about 0.29 TWh.
Moreover, the number of truck loads at the LNG terminals rose by 9.2 percent year-on-year to 1017, the data shows.
The Barcelona LNG terminal completed 211 truck loads in November, while the Huelva terminal completed 204 truck loads and the Cartagena terminal completed 197 truck loads.
