The Spanish government is negotiating with the highest authorities of Algeria on the resumption of operation of the Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline, which runs through Morocco. Revealed by economic website Merca 2. “Energy sources” in Spain claim that there were “top-level” contacts between representatives of the two governments to reactivate GME. The same source adds that the Naturgia company, which had the right to operate the gas pipeline until the contract expired on October 31, is following these negotiations with great interest.
Sources interviewed say they are optimistic, especially after a March 6 phone call between Abdelmajid Tebbun and Pedro Sanchez gave them reason to hope for a change in Algeria’s position on the issue.
Algeria’s decision not to renew the contract for the supply of gas did not particularly affect the supply to the Spanish energy market. The Iberian neighbor quickly made up for this closure by knocking on the doors of the United States to guarantee its gas needs. In February, Spain produced 12,472 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from LNG, depriving the US of, i.e. 32.9% of total gas imports, against 8801 GWh from Algerian gas, i.e. only 23.2%.
The United States would welcome the restoration of GME
This mediation by Pedro Sanchez is not without political calculation. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gives the head of the Spanish government an opportunity to strengthen his international authority in the Biden administration.
Even before the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, the United States was actively looking for alternatives to Russian gas and oil, in particular for supplies to the EU market. Following Qatar, Washington even initiated a dialogue with Venezuela on the abolition of measures introduced in April 2019 by former President Donald Trump that prohibit American companies from importing Venezuelan oil. President Nicolas Maduro said last week that he met with a delegation of senior US officials and discussed resuming exports.
The United States supports Pedro Sanchez’s initiative to persuade President Tebbun to reopen the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline through Morocco. Since her arrival in Algiers in early February, new US Ambassador Elizabeth Moore Aubin has raised the issue in meetings with President Tebbun, Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahman and Ramtan Lamamra. This topic was also on the menu of the last session of the Strategic Dialogue between Algeria and the United States, co-chaired by US Diplomacy No. 2 Wendy Sherman and Algerian Foreign Minister.
So far, the eastern neighbor is publicly demonstrating its categorical rejection of the resumption of the BVB. Nevertheless, Algeria made a concession to the Americans, agreeing to qualify the invasion of Ukraine as “Putin’s deliberate and unjustified attack on the Ukrainian people,” according to a March 10 press release about Anthony Blinken’s services.