It is well and truly over for the Maghreb Europe Gas Pipeline (MEGP) which supplies Spain with Algerian gas via Moroccan territory. This is the first major consequence of the severance of diplomatic relations between Algeria and its western neighbor.
The possibility of non-renewal of the MEGP operating contract, which expires on October 31, had been in the air for several weeks. The Moroccan side tried to influence Algiers’ decision by announcing on August 19 its availability to renew the contract.
“It is our will, as we expressed it verbally and in writing, publicly and in private discussions, always with the same clarity and the same consistency”, declared Amina Benkhadra, director of the Moroccan Hydrocarbons Office. It was five days before the official announcement by Algiers to sever its relations with Morocco following a series of “hostile acts” and “provocations” by the latter.
Ms. Benkhadra’s words will be qualified as a “lie” from August 21 by anonymous “experts” who spoke on the official press agency.
On August 26, Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab hinted that the contract will not be renewed. Arkab received the Spanish Ambassador to Algeria, Fernando Morgan, who was concerned about the supply of his country with Algerian gas.
The Minister of Energy had assured the Spanish diplomat of Algeria’s “total commitment” to “cover all” of Spain’s natural gas supplies through the Medgaz.
The Medgaz is the gas pipeline that directly connects Algeria to Spain without passing through Moroccan territory. Algeria had taken its lead by strengthening its gas transport capacity.
Arkab had not officially announced the end of the transit of Algerian gas through Morocco, but an Algerian diplomatic source told on Tuesday, September 7 that the Algerian authorities have decided definitively: the MEGP operating contract will not be renewed.
The pipeline was commissioned in 1996 and supplies Spain and Portugal with Algerian gas (12 billion cubic meters per year, with a quantity taken by Morocco in the form of rights of way).
In addition to a right of way of 58 million euros paid each year to the Moroccan state, the MEGP provides 700 million cubic meters of gas to Moroccan power plants.
