Spain was only capable of producing 0.34% of the gas it consumes over a year

in the midst of the energy crisis .

This figure places the country in a situation of great foreign dependence just when the cost of this hydrocarbon has skyrocketed to historically high levels due to the war in Ukraine and bottlenecks in the energy market due to increased Asian demand.

In total, Spain buys gas from 16 different countries around the world to complement the amount it extracts from the Viura field, just 12 kilometers from Logroño.

Historically, the main supplier has been

Algeria,

although the closure of the Maghreb gas pipeline that crossed Morocco and ended in Tarifa has replaced this position.

Now it is

the United States

, through ships loaded with Liquefied Natural Gas, which is flooding the Spanish coasts with gas from 'fracking', an activity that is prohibited in Spain due to environmental restrictions.

The problem is that the gas that arrives by ship is being paid at a much higher price than the Algerian Medgaz gas pipeline, the only one that remains operational for now.

"Supply by LNG is more expensive than gas imported by pipeline throughout the year except in the month of March, with differences of over

30 euros per megawatt hour at the end of the year"

, warns the

National Markets Commission and Competition (CNMC)

in its latest supervision report on wholesale energy markets.

This document illustrates very well how until last July the price of gas was similar regardless of its origin, but from then on the cost of importing LNG per ship is multiplied by four and reaches the level of 63 euros per megawatt hour last December (latest data available).

The cost of the gas pipeline also doubled in the second half of the year -including the entry of Algerian gas and imports from France-, but even so it did not exceed 33 euros.

Sources in the sector explain that the increase is mainly due to the increase in the cost of financial coverage and the way in which it is carried out, since in the case of Algeria no increases have yet been applied (although the Algerian Executive has already warned that it will freeze all rates to its clients except those in Spain).

The change from the tube to a ship had a clear impact on the effort that Spain had to make to supply itself with gas.

"The cost of gas imports according to the customs reference in Spain increased by 337%, going from €13/MWh in December 2021 to €58/MWh in December 2020," the report details.

Europe is suffering with particular virulence from the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The region is immersed in a process of ecological transition towards clean energies, but the conflict has shown its still great dependence on hydrocarbons from other parts of the world and, especially, on Russian gas.

And he is paying dearly for it.

"Although the price of gas also increased in the United States, it closed the year at €11/MWh, that is, ten times less than the price in Asia or Europe."

The country led by

Joe Biden

is one of the great beneficiaries in terms of energy thanks to its ability to produce and export gas and oil.

Only a few weeks after the conflict began, the United States announced a plan to supply gas to Europe to help this region move away from Russia.

Last year, the North American giant shot up its gas production by 50% and became the third largest producer in the world using hydraulic fracturing, which allows faster and cheaper access to hydrocarbons.

border intervention

In any case, the price of gas at the border is below that quoted on the Iberian Gas Market, used as a reference to set the price of this fuel used for electricity generation.

That is why there are groups like Iberdrola that ask the Government to intervene directly on the price of gas and avoid altering the electricity market.

This option could lead to savings of

3,500 million euros a year,

according to a study by the consultant

Arthur D. Little,

and would imply that the Executive force the companies that bring gas to Spain to sell to the combined cycles at a price of importation plus a logistical and commercial margin that would ensure its reasonable profitability.

It would be another type of intervention different from the one currently proposed by the Vice President of Ecological Transition,

Teresa Ribera,

which involves limiting the cost of the gas used by the cycles when generating electricity.

The risk of the alternative would be, in any case, that gas importers would prefer to take this hydrocarbon elsewhere, taking advantage of the current high market demand.

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