LNG imports rose by 25.9 percent year-on-year to 20.5 TWh in May and accounted for 69.9 percent of the total gas imports, according to the preliminary monthly report by LNG terminal operator Enagas.
Imports dropped compared to 22.4 TWh in April, which marked a 39.2 percent year-on-year rise.
Including pipeline imports from Algeria (8.14 TWh), France, and Portugal, gas imports to Spain reached about 30.6 TWh last month, a rise from 29.3 TWh in May last year, the report shows.
Moreover, national gas demand in May rose by 8.9 percent year-on-year to 24.4 TWh.
Demand for power generation surged by 68.2 percent year-on-year to 7.18 TWh last month, while conventional demand decreased by 5.1 percent to 17.2 TWh, the LNG terminal operator said.
In May, storage facilities were 73 percent full, compared to 90 percent in the same month last year and 69 percent in the prior month.
Enagas operates a large network of gas pipelines in Spain and has three wholly-owned LNG import plants in Barcelona, Huelva, and Cartagena.
It also owns 75 percent of the Musel LNG facility, 50 percent of the BBG regasification plant in Bilbao, and 72.5 percent of the Sagunto plant, while Reganosa operates the Mugardos plant.
US remains main LNG supplier
The seven operational Spanish LNG regasification terminals unloaded 21 cargoes last month, up by three cargoes compared to May 2024.
The US remained the biggest LNG supplier to Spain in May with 9.18 TWh, a rise compared to 4.92 TWh last year, and the country was followed by Russia with 5.50 TWh, down from 6.41 TWh last year, and Nigeria with 4.94 TWh, up from 2.93 TWh last year.
Spain also received 1 TWh from Angola and 0.78 TWh from Qatar.
LNG reloads slightly up
Spanish LNG terminals loaded about 1.22 TWh in May, slightly up compared to 1.19 TWh in May 2024.
Reloads also rose compared to 1 TWh in April and 0.54 TWh in March.
Spanish terminals reloaded 1.67 TWh in February and 0.92 TWh in January.
During May, the Barcelona terminal reloaded 0.49 TWh, the Huelva terminal reloaded 0.47 TWh, and the Sagunto terminal reloaded 0.2 TWh.
Enagas said 55.3 percent of the loaded volumes in May landed in the EU, 32.1 percent of the volumes were used for bunkering, and the rest landed in non-EU countries.
Moreover, truck loading operations at the LNG terminals decreased by 0.3 percent in May year-on-year to 1005.
The data shows that last month, the Barcelona LNG terminal completed 211 truckloads, the Sagunto terminal completed 202 truckloads, and the Huelva terminal completed 172 truckloads.