Spanish LNG imports, reloads rise in December

Spanish LNG imports rose by 4.2 percent in December while reloaded volumes quadrupled when compared to the same month last year, according to the country’s LNG terminal operator, Enagas.

LNG imports reached about 27.8 TWh in December and accounted for 72.9 percent of the total gas imports. In November, LNG imports reached some 26.5 TWh.

Including pipeline imports from Algeria, gas imports to Spain reached about 38.1 TWh last month, down from some 38.8 TWh in December last year, Enagas said in its monthly report.

Moreover, gas demand in December dropped by 4.7 percent year-on-year to 38.7 TWh. Demand for power generation declined by 14.7 percent year-on-year to 8.7 TWh last month while conventional demand dropped by 32.4 percent to 19.2 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.

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.

Enagas is working to launch its El Musel LNG facility in Gijon with the capacity to unload and load 100 carriers per year.

US remains the biggest LNG supplier

The six operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals unloaded 31 cargoes last month, the same as in December last year, according to Enagas.

US remains the biggest supplier of LNG to Spain with some 12.5 TWh or about 32.9 percent of the total gas and LNG imports in December. US LNG supplies rose from 9.52 TWh last year, the data shows.

LNG volumes from Russia reached some 5.45 TWh, a rise from 4.19 TWh in December last year while volumes from Nigeria dropped from 6.69 TWh to 2.77 TWh last month and volumes from Egypt rose to 2.47 TWh, the data shows.

Other LNG sources in December include Trinidad and Tobago, Qatar, and Cameroon, Enagas said.

Reloads surged in December

Spanish LNG terminals loaded about 3.94 TWh in December. This is four times more compared to some 1 TWh in December last year.

The Sagunto LNG terminal reloaded about 1.8 TWh of LNG, followed by Barcelona with about 0.8 TWh.

Also, the number of truck loads at the LNG terminals dropped by 34.1 percent year-on-year to 859, the data shows.

Enagas said that the loading of LNG carriers from Spanish terminals had increased by 44.9 percent year-on-year in 2022 to 24.8 TWh.

Many of these reloads have been destined for other EU countries, such as Italy or Germany, the firm said.

The 170,000-cbm FSRU Hoegh Esperanza, which serves Germany’s first FSRU-based LNG import termnal in Wilhelmshaven, took a reloaded cargo at the Sagunto terminal in December.

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