According to the latest Enagás statistical bulletin, 71.5% of the natural gas imported by Spain in the first nine months of 2022 was imported by sea in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on board methane tankers, compared to 50.1% imported by this route a year earlier.
In the period between January and September 2022, methane tankers unloaded the equivalent of 240,808-gigawatt hours (GWh) of LNG at Spanish regasification plants, 60 percent more than last year’s 150,784 GWh. During the same period, the number of ships increased by 49.1% from 169 to 252.
The United States has exported 102,694 GWh of LNG by sea to Spain so far this year, which accounts for 42.6% of the total LNG imported by sea; Algeria has exported 77,146 GWh (32.0%), and Nigeria has exported 48,705.
As a result of total gas imports (via pipeline and at sea), Algeria has regained first place as a supplier in September, replacing the US.
Algerian imports reached 8,931 GWh, 25.4% of the total supply, during the month of September. Of these, 7,962 GWh came through the Medgaz gas pipeline and 969 GWh by sea.