Spanish liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and reloads dropped in January compared to the same month last year, according to Enagas.
LNG imports decreased by 13.9 percent to about 20 TWh in January and accounted for 65.4 percent of the total gas imports. In December, LNG imports reached some 15 TWh.
Including pipeline imports from Algeria, France, and Portugal, gas imports to Spain reached about 32.3 TWh last month, a drop from some 34.2 TWh in January last year, Enagas said in its monthly report.
Moreover, national gas demand in January rose by 13.3 percent year-on-year to some 33.6 TWh.
Demand for power generation increased by 18.8 percent year-on-year to about 6.88 TWh last month, while conventional demand rose by 11.9 percent to 26.7 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.
The firm previously said that August of last year marked the first time in its history that Spain has managed to fill 100 percent of its underground storage facilities.
Storage facilities were also full in October and November, they were 91 percent full in December, and 82 percent in January, according to Enagas.
Enagas operates a large network of gas pipelines and has four LNG import plants in Barcelona, Huelva, Cartagena, and Gijon.
It also owns 50 percent of the BBG regasification plant in Bilbao and 72.5 percent of the Sagunto plant, while Reganosa operates the Mugardos plant.
In August, Spanish power group Endesa delivered the first commercial cargo to the El Musel LNG terminal in Gijon.
Enagas awarded the logistics services contract to Endesa in July and it also completed the sale of a 25 percent stake in the El Musel LNG terminal to Reganosa.
The seven operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals, unloaded 21 cargoes last month, down by four cargoes compared to January last year, the data shows.
The US was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in January with about 9.44 TWh, up from 7.1 TWh last year, followed by Russia with 8.68 TWh, a rise from 6.37 TWh last year.
Russia was the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in December. Prior to that, US was the biggest supplier to Spain in October and November.
Spanish LNG terminals also received 1.13 TWh from Nigeria, 0.98 TWh from Algeria, and 0.87 TWh from Qatar in January, the data shows.
Spanish LNG terminals loaded about 0.92 TWh in January, down 76 percent compared to some 3.9 TWh in January 2023 and also down from about 1.35 TWh in December.
The Huelva LNG terminal reloaded about 0.66 TWh of LNG, followed by the Barcelona terminal with about 0.26 TWh.
Moreover, the number of truck loads at the LNG terminals rose by 21.1 percent year-on-year to 1161.
The Huelva LNG terminal completed 235 truck loads in January, while the Barcelona terminal completed 228 truck loads and the Cartagena terminal completed 225 truck loads.
