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LNG imports decreased by 8.9 percent year-on-year to 13.6 TWh in December and accounted for 55.3 percent of the total gas imports.
Including pipeline imports from Algeria (9.76 TWh), France, and Portugal, gas imports to Spain reached about 26.3 TWh last month, a drop from 27.2 TWh in December last year, according to the monthly report by Enagas.
Moreover, national gas demand in December rose by 15.5 percent year-on-year to 35.1 TWh.
Demand for power generation jumped by 56.7 percent year-on-year to 10.4 TWh last month, while conventional demand increased by 3.9 percent to 24.6 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.
Storage facilities were 83 percent full in December, compared to 88 percent in the same month last year and 93 percent in the prior month.
Enagas recently said that Spanish gas consumption decreased by 4.2 percent in 2024 to 311.7 TWh mainly due to lower gas demand for power generation.
The company did not provide data for 2024 LNG imports.
Based on its monthly reports, Spanish LNG imports reached 197.6 TWh, down 26.3 percent from 268.1 TWh in 2023.
Enagas operates a large network of gas pipelines in Spain and has three wholly-owned LNG import plants in Barcelona, Huelva, and Cartagena.
It also owns 75 percent of the Musel LNG facility, 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 2023 Spanish power group Endesa delivered the first commercial cargo to the El Musel LNG terminal in Gijon.
Endesa completed the first reloading operation at the facility in April 2024, but the facility has not been loading cargoes since May 2024, the monthly data shows.
Russia, Nigeria, US
The seven operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals unloaded 14 cargoes in December, down by three cargoes compared to December 2023.
Russia remained the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in December with 5.4 TWh, which is flat compared to last year. Nigeria was second with 3.1 TWh, up from 2.6 TWh in December 2023, and the US was third with 2.5 TWh, down from 3.7 TWh in the comparable month.
During December, Spain also received 1.7 TWh from Qatar, which is flat compared to December 2023, and 1.1 TWh from Trinidad.
Russia was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in November, Russia and Algeria were Spain’s leading LNG suppliers in October, and the US and Russia were the biggest LNG suppliers to Spain in September.
Also, Russia was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in April, May, June, July, and August, while the US was the biggest supplier in January and February.
LNG reloads drop
Spanish LNG terminals loaded 0.49 TWh in December, down by 63.3 percent year-on-year.
During December, the Huelva terminal reloaded 0.22 TWh, and the Cartagena terminal reloaded 0.17 TWh.
Reloads dropped compared to 1.57 TWh in November
Reloads rose compared to 0.42 TWh in October, 0.67 TWh in September, and 0.35 TWh in August, the lowest monthly figure this year, but were down compared to 2.49 TWh in July, the highest monthly figure this year.
The LNG terminals loaded 0.42 TWh in October, 0.67 TWh in September, 0.35 TWh in August, 2.49 TWh in July, 1.81 TWh in June, 1.19 TWh in May, 0.45 TWh in April, 0.56 TWh in March, 1.07 TWh in February, and 0.92 TWh in January.
During 2024, Spanish LNG terminals reloaded 15.4 TWh, down from 18.3 TWh in 2023, the data shows.
Enagas said 51.5 percent of the loaded volumes landed in non-EU countries, while 29 percent of the volumes landed in Europe and 19.3 percent were used for bunkering.
Moreover, truck loading operations at the LNG terminals rose 5.5 percent in December year-on-year to 1065.
The Barcelona LNG terminal completed 209 truck loads in December, while the Cartagena terminal completed 208 truck loads, and the Huleva terminal completed 206 truck loads, the data shows.