Spanish LNG imports nosedive in February YoY

Spain’s imports of liquefied natural gas plummeted 48 percent in February on a yearly basis, according to the data provided by the LNG terminal operator, Enagás.

LNG imports reached 10.81 terawatt hours (TWh) in February as compared to 20.94 TWh in the same month the year before, the data shows.

Total natural gas imports, including piped imports, dropped 20.4 percent to 31.59 TWh.

Breaking down the LNG imports by countries, Algeria was the biggest supplier to Spain last month with 2.81 TWh, followed closely by Qatar with 2.70 TWh and Nigeria that supplied 2.54 TWh.

Comparing these volumes year-on-year, Algerian LNG supplies dropped 36.2 percent, while Qatari volumes decreased 24.5 percent. Imports from Nigeria were down 36.1 percent.

The rest of the February LNG volumes were sourced from Peru (1.78 TWh) and Norway (0.97 TWh).

The Barcelona regasification plant received six LNG cargoes out of the total 14 cargoes imported into Spain during the month under review, according to the Enagás data.

Huelva and Bilbao handled three LNG cargoes in February, each. Huelva also reloaded one rare LNG cargo of 1.07 TWh last month.

The Sagunto and Mugardos regasification facilities took one cargo, each. There was also one small LNG reload of 15 GWh at Mugardos during the month in review.

Worth mentioning, Enagás said earlier this month that natural gas demand in Spain closed the month of February with a 16.9 percent increase on year, reaching 34.1 TWh.

The increase in demand came mostly from the industrial sector as a response to the lower temperatures during the month which also spurred the rise in demand for natural gas used in power generation.

Last month’s average temperature was 3.3ºC lower than the average of February 2017, Enagás said.

LNG World News Staff