First modification:
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune “ordered” the public group Sonatrach not to renew the contract for the gas pipeline that crosses Morocco and supplies energy to Spain. This is due to the “hostile practices” that Algiers blames on Rabat, which have already led to a breakdown of relations, in addition to the closure of airspace. In the middle, the question of Western Sahara.
Tension is mounting between Algiers and Rabat. In a statement from the Algerian Presidency issued on October 31, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune “ordered the cessation of commercial relations between Sonatrach and the Moroccan Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE)”.
Tebboune made this decision after consulting with the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Energy. The statement explains that it is due “to hostile practices of the (Moroccan) kingdom that undermine national unity.”
Worry in Madrid
The Algerian decision to close the GME gas pipeline that linked Algeria with the Iberian Peninsula through Morocco, was taken last August when Algiers broke diplomatic relations with Rabat. The country, the leading supplier of natural gas to Spain, has remained firm since then, without hiding in recent weeks its intention not to extend the contract for the use of the Gaz Maghreb Europe (GME) gas pipeline.
Spain, which depends in part on Algeria for its gas supply, fears a possible shortage or even a rise in prices. This week, however, Madrid received guarantees from Algiers that the supply will be assured.
Last Wednesday, Teresa Ribera, the Spanish Minister of Ecological Transition in charge of Energy, and Mohamed Arkab, her Algerian counterpart for Energy and Mines, announced that deliveries of Algerian gas to Spain will now be made exclusively through the underwater natural gas pipeline. Medgaz, launched in 2011, and the liquefied natural gas conversion complexes.
Since 1996, Algeria has sent around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Spain and Portugal each year through the GME.
In exchange for the transit of the gas pipeline, Rabat received annually about 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which represents 97% of its needs. According to industry experts, half were rights of way paid in kind, and the other half gas purchased cheaply.
Rupture of diplomatic relations
At the end of August, Algeria similarly cut diplomatic relations with Morocco – and in September even the airspace -, citing “hostile actions”. According to the kingdom, it was a “completely unjustified” decision.
The crisis erupted shortly after the normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel, in exchange for the United States’ recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. A decision that was not welcomed by Algiers, as it supports the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front and regularly repeats its support for the Palestinian cause.
Adapted from his original article in French.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/diplomatic-crisis-algeria-closes-the-gas-pipeline-that-transits-through-morocco/
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