Spanish liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and reloads decreased in April compared to the same month last year. Russia and Algeria were the biggest LNG suppliers to Spain in April, according to Enagas.
LNG imports decreased by 46.2 percent year-on-year to about 16.1 TWh in April and accounted for 60.2 percent of the total gas imports. In March, LNG imports reached some 18.1 TWh, while in February LNG imports reached about 18.4 TWh and in January imports reached some 20 TWh.
Including pipeline imports from Algeria (8.41 TWh), France, and Portugal, gas imports to Spain reached about 26.8 TWh last month, a drop from some 38.4 TWh in April last year, Enagas said in its monthly report.
Moreover, national gas demand in April decreased by 4.9 percent year-on-year to some 22.5 TWh.
Demand for power generation dipped by 25.6 percent year-on-year to about 4.44 TWh last month, while conventional demand increased by 2 percent to 18.1 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.
Storage facilities were were 87 percent full in April, compared to 87 percent in the same month last year and 81 percent in the prior month, 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 last year, Spanish power group Endesa delivered the first commercial cargo to the El Musel LNG terminal in Gijon.
Last month, Endesa completed the first reloading operation at the facility.
Russia and Algeria biggest LNG suppliers
The seven operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals, unloaded 17 cargoes last month, down by 15 cargoes compared to April last year, the data shows.
Russia was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in April with about 5.34 TWh, down from 6.51 TWh last year, and the country was followed by Algeria with 3.93 TWh, up compared to 2.43 TWh last year.
Nigerian LNG volumes to Spain dropped to 2.68 TWh last month from 4.84 TWh last year, while US volumes dropped to just 2.14 TWh from 9.19 TWh last year. Spain also received 1.1 TWh from Belgium and 0.92 TWh from Norway in April.
US was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in January and February, while Russia was the biggest LNG supplier in December last year. Prior to that, US was the biggest supplier to Spain in October and November.
LNG reloads lowest this year
Spanish LNG terminals loaded about 0.45 TWh in April, down 71.5 percent compared to some 1.59 TWh in the same month last year and also down compared about 0.56 TWh in March, 1.07 TWh in February, and 0.92 TWh in January.
The Barcelona LNG terminal reloaded about 0.28 TWh of LNG, the Mugardos terminal reloaded about 92 GWh, and the Cartagena terminal reloaded some 68 GWh.
Moreover, the number of truck loads at the LNG terminals dropped by 9.6 percent year-on-year to 815.
The Barcelona LNG terminal completed 161 truck loads in April, while the Huelva terminal completed 157 truck loads and the Cartagena terminal completed 148 truck loads, the data shows.