Spain has become the first country in the EU to completely fill its gas stores to cover itself in the face of any supply problem this winter. Its progress is at the forefront of the EU, which has also accelerated in recent weeks and has reached the objectives set for November 1 two months in advance. With this effort, the region takes a decisive step against the threat that Russia boasted about in its propaganda videos just a year ago: a freezing winter without gas in Europe.
The Spanish gas warehouses reached a level of 100% three days ago, on Saturday, that is, completely full. It is an unprecedented level that contributes to the EU average standing at 91%, according to data from Gie Agsi, the European platform for monitoring this activity.
The CEO of Enagás, Arturo Gonzalo, showed yesterday in statements to La Vanguardia his satisfaction with this milestone. "Europe has achieved levels that are difficult to imagine" in March 2022, when the European Commission launched its emergency plan for the invasion of Ukraine. Spain has achieved "a historic record" in storage which, added to the capacity of its regasification plants, "makes us face next winter with great strength in terms of security of supply," he says.
A year ago, after the invasion of Ukraine, the EU launched an emergency plan to cover at least 80% of its gas reserves before November 1, in anticipation of Russia cutting supplies in winter and causing a serious supply crisis. It was quite a challenge, at a time when the price of gas was skyrocketing in its international price until it multiplied and reached all-time highs.
For this year, the objective was more ambitious, 90%, but circumstances are not bad and it has been achieved two months before the scheduled date. Spain is the most advantaged country, ahead of 97% of Croatia and 95% of Sweden and Portugal. In Germany, the percentage is 92.7%, and 85.8% in France.
The President of the European Commission herself, Ursula von der Leyen, has congratulated herself on the X social network for this achievement, which "will help to be safe in winter" and which will "free" the EU from Russian gas. The next objective, she says, is to advance in the diversity of sources of supply.
Among all the countries of the EU, they already have a cushion of gas equivalent to 1,034 terawatt hours (TWh), which represents 27% of their annual consumption. Germany has combined its storage with the arrival of gas by ship to some still provisional floating regasification plants.
One of the keys to filling stores above 90% is the price of gas, which a year ago quadrupled and is now close to the average for the last decade. Neither the Nordstream sabotage, nor the uncertainty surrounding a veto on Russia that goes beyond oil, nor the growing demand for gas from Asia have been enough to destabilize the supply. A strike in Australia has been the only event that has caused the price of this hydrocarbon to rise this summer.
The EU, judging by the Gie Agsi data, has now become a veritable gas saving machine. Before the invasion of Ukraine, in 2021, European reserves were at 63% at this time of the year and those of Spain, at 71%.
Last year, with the Twenty-seven already on guard after the invasion of Ukraine, 90% was reached in October. There was also a factor of luck: the winter was warmer than expected and at the end, in March of this year, the levels were 56%, above the 40% below which the alarms would have gone off. Before the war, it was customary to reach the end of winter in percentages of 25%.
In reality, Spain's success in filling reserves has its nuances because the country does not stand out for these infrastructures, barely capable of responding to 10% of its demand, but for its regasification plants, the most numerous in the entire EU, that make it the entrance by ship for gas from any part of the world. Spain has four underground storage facilities, which are the Aragonese de Serrablo, the Basque de Gaviota, the Manchego de Yela and the Andalusian de Marismas, in addition to the gas tanks next to the ports, including those of Barcelona.
Of all the underground infrastructures, the largest is that of Gaviota, which is located in the sea, about eight kilometers from the coast of Bermeo, in Vizcaya, and which stores almost half of all the gas underground. Saving the distances, this reservoir is similar to the failed Castor project, which was built off the coast of Castellón and had to be suspended due to the earthquakes caused at the time it was filled.
The gas stored by Spain adds up to 34 TWh of energy for a country that consumes 338. It is 10% of all demand, which percentage exceeds Portugal or Belgium, but not the large European economies such as Germany, which has 234 stored. TWh, 25% of its consumption, or France, which reaches 116 TWh, 27%.
However, Spain is ahead of its neighbors in receiving gas, either through the Maghreb gas pipeline or through the regasification plants for liquefied natural gas (LNG) arriving by ship. Of the fifteen regasification companies in the EU, seven are in Spain.
The paradox is that Russia continues to be one of the major gas suppliers, also according to data from Enagás. Algeria, with 25%, was the first source of supply until July thanks to the gas pipeline that reaches Almería, while Russia contributes 21% and leads the arrival by ship, ahead of the United States, whose weight is 19%. Nigeria contributes another 13%.
