Imports of natural gas from Russia soared by 192.5% in January, from 2,178 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 6,372 GWh. This sharp rise has meant that Russian imports have gone from representing 5.8% of total imports in January a year ago to 19.2%, making Russia the fourth largest supplier of natural gas to Spain after Algeria, the United States and Nigeria, although much of this gas is destined for other countries.
This is despite the fact that imports fell by 24.4% in January compared to a year ago, to 25,862 gigawatt hours (GWh). According to the Corporación de Reservas Estratégicas de Productos Petrolíferos (Strategic Petroleum Products Reserves Corporation, or CORES in its Spanish initials), both imports via pipeline (-33.1%) and imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell by 20.8%. So far this year, net imports of natural gas have fallen by 3% year-on-year to 369,630 GWh.
