Page 6 - DMEA Week 18 2022

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

African gas and African realities

The case of Spanish-Moroccan-Algerian tensions over GME demonstrates that if the
EU wants Africa’s gas, it may also have to confront regional tensions and disputes.

AFRICA RUSSIA plays an outsize role in the EU’s energy Algeria’s government explained its decision
mix. Since it is responsible for about 25% of the by complaining that Morocco had been back-
crude oil and 40% of the natural gas used in the ing the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie,
WHAT: bloc, there is no easy way to reconfigure Europe’s an ethnic Berber group demanding the right
Algeria has complained energy mix so as not to provide material sup- to self-governance in Kabylie province. It also
about Spain’s offer to port to the parties responsible for the war being reiterated claims that Morocco had been com-
grant Morocco access to waged on Ukraine. plicit in a wave of forest fires that swept northern
its LNG import facilities. This is why some European officials have Algeria the previous August, killing more than
spoken out strongly against the proposed ban 90 people.
WHY: on Russian oil imports that EU energy ministers Moroccan officials responded, in turn, by
The dispute is related to are discussing this week. For example, Zoltán charging that Algiers was supporting the Polis-
an older fight over the Kovács, Hungary’s state secretary for inter- ario Front, a group formed to establish Western
GME transit pipeline – national communications, said on May 2 that Sahara’s independence from Rabat. These alle-
and diplomatic sparring Budapest remained opposed to this idea and had gations helped fuel tensions that had already
over Western Sahara. not dropped plans to veto the measure. He also been building in the months following the US
insinuated that the EU did not fully appreciate government’s pledge to support Morocco’s claim
WHAT NEXT: the depth of Hungary’s dependence on Russian to sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange
The EU should learn from fuel and energy and asserted his country’s right for the normalisation of relations with Israel.
these developments as it to set its own priorities on this front. The most immediate consequence of
seeks out alternative gas The EU, in turn, has been stressing the impor- Sonatrach’s decision not to renew the transit
suppliers. tance of co-operation across the bloc in the ser- agreement was the suspension of Algerian gas
vice of a common goal – namely, supporting flows to Spain via GME. But this development
Ukraine by restricting trade with Russia. As did not occur in isolation. It happened at a time
Kovacs spoke, Brussels was urging EU member when gas supply concerns were widespread
states to work together on energy-related issues throughout the EU – and when Russia, the EU’s
such as Moscow’s demand that some of its cus- single largest source of gas, was declining most of
tomers pay for natural gas supplies in Russian its European buyers’ requests for additional vol-
rubles rather than US dollars or Euros. Mean- umes. As a result, it helped cause Spanish gas and
while, European officials were counselling unity electricity prices, which were already very high,
and calling on members of the bloc to join forces to go even higher in the final quarter of 2021.
to end the war in Ukraine more quickly.
But Russia is not the only external headache Spain seeks to aid Morocco
for the European energy sector. At least one EU After cancelling the transit agreement, Sonatrach
member state has run into trouble in North did try to assuage Spain’s supply concerns by
Africa lately. The trouble is certainly smaller in pumping more gas to the Iberian Peninsula
scale, with respect to both the volumes of gas through a separate pipeline – Medgaz, which
involved and the immediate geopolitical stakes. runs directly from Algeria to Spain across the
But it should not be ignored, especially now that Mediterranean seabed. It also talked about send-
Brussels is actively looking for substitutes for ing more LNG to Spain by tanker.
Russian fuel. However, it does not appear to have fully
made up for the loss of the 6bn cubic metres
Headache in North Africa per year delivered to Spain via GME – and it
The headache in question concerns Spain, certainly did not compensate Morocco for the
Morocco and Algeria, and it has to do with ship- smaller volumes it had been receiving in transit.
ments through the Gas Maghreb-Europe (GME) As a result, both Spain and Morocco have been
pipeline, which was built to pump gas from Alge- on the lookout for additional gas supplies.
ria’s Hassi R’Mel field through Morocco and Initially, Madrid and Rabat searched for
across the Straits of Gibraltar into Spain. gas separately, with the Spanish side seeking
Until recently, Algeria’s national oil company out LNG cargoes on the world market and the
(NOC) Sonatrach pumped gas through the Moroccan side working to speed up plans for
Moroccan section of GME under a 25-year tran- developing domestic gas reserves and install
sit agreement. Last autumn, though, Sonatrach floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs)
informed Rabat that it did not intend to renew in order to facilitate LNG imports.
the deal after it expired on October 31, 2021. In recent months, though, they have joined

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