Morocco turns to LNG in the face of pipeline insecurity [Gas in Transition]

Morocco turns to LNG in the face of pipeline insecurity [Gas in Transition]

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Natural Gas News
Morocco turns to LNG in the face of pipeline insecurity [Gas in Transition]

Summary

With a deal signed with Shell for LNG supply over 12 years, Morocco has formally entered the LNG market. Its renewable energy plans are moving slowly, suggesting gas will play a key role in the country’s plans to phase coal out of its carbon-heavy generation mix. [Gas in Transition, Volume 3, Issue 8] by: Ross McCracken

Morocco is the latest country to enter the LNG market. Like Europe’s expansion of its LNG import capacity, the motivation is the loss of pipeline supplies from a neighbouring exporter, owing to a breakdown in political relations. This is not how it was supposed to be. Large infrastructure projects – pipelines – were supposed to bind countries together in mutual economic benefit. However, Algeria, which has sufficient alternative export capacity, has been prepared to use gas as an economic lever in its dispute with Morocco and Spain over the Western Sahara. Transit gas truncated Algeria cut off gas supplies to Spain through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline, which passes through Morocco, in the fourth quarter of 2021. Morocco had received a small proportion of the transit gas as a royalty, and consequently found itself unable to supply its two gas-fired power stations, Tahddart and Ain Ben Mathar. Together these have 1,735 MW out of total installed capacity in the country of just over 11 GW. The two plants consumed most of the Algerian gas with just over a tenth used by industry. Moroccan gas consumpti...