Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune "
ordered
" Sunday the public group Sonatrach not to renew the contract for the gas pipeline passing through Morocco and supplying Spain with gas, "
in view of the hostile practices of the
neighboring
kingdom
".
Algerian gas deliveries to Spain will now be made exclusively via the Medgaz submarine gas pipeline launched in 2011.
Read also Algeria: gas deliveries to Spain without going through Morocco
"
President Abdelamadjid Tebboune ordered the termination of commercial relations between Sonatrach and the Moroccan Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) and the non-renewal of the agreement which expires at midnight Sunday
," according to a statement of the presidency broadcast by public television.
Mr. Tebboune took this decision, after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Energy, "
in view of the hostile practices of the (Moroccan) kingdom which undermine national unity
", according to the report. communicated.
Algeria, Spain's leading natural gas supplier, had made no secret in recent weeks of its intention not to extend the contract for the use of the Gaz Maghreb Europe (GME) pipeline.
On Wednesday, the Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transition in charge of Energy Teresa Ribera and the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab announced that Algerian gas deliveries to Spain would be ensured via the Medgaz gas pipeline and the liquefied natural gas conversion complexes.
Since 1996, Algeria has shipped around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Spain and Portugal via GME.
In return for the transit of the gas pipeline, Rabat received annually nearly one billion m3 of natural gas, which represents 97% of its needs.
Half were rights of way paid in kind, the other half was cheaply purchased gas, according to industry experts.
At the end of August, Algeria cut off diplomatic relations with Morocco, citing “
hostile actions
” by the kingdom, a “
completely unjustified
” decision, according to Rabat.
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.
Algiers, which supports the Saharawi separatists of the Polisario Front, regularly repeats its support for the Palestinian cause.