The demand for natural gas in Spain has closed with an estimated 14% increase in 2019 compared to last year, reaching 398 TWh, the highest figure since 2010, according to data provided by Spanish LNG terminal operator Enagas.
This increase has been mainly attributed to a high demand of natural gas for electricity generation and for greater industrial consumption.
The demand for natural gas for electricity generation has grown by around 80% in 2019 compared to 2018, reaching 111 TWh, also the highest figure since 2010.
This sharp increase occurred mainly due to a greater participation of natural gas in the thermal gap against coal -in a context in which natural gas prices are more competitive- and to a low hydraulic generation this year.
Meanwhile, industrial demand, representing about 54% of total natural gas consumption, has reached 214 TWh, around 2% up than the previous year.
This is the highest figure since there are disaggregated records of industrial consumption. Demand has grown in almost all industrial sectors, especially in the services sector.
The regions where the total demand for natural gas has increased the most in 2019 were Navarra (+65%), Asturias (+36%) and Galicia (+34%).
Due to high levels of LNG storage and lower prices than in other European countries, Spain has increased its exports of natural gas to Europe by the Pyrenees in the last two months of 2019.
The replacement of coal with natural gas has been the main factor that has allowed this year to reduce CO2 emissions of the electric mix by 25% compared to 2018.
…Enagas added.
This has prevented the emission of 14 million tons of CO2 equivalent to emissions produced by almost 6 million cars a year.
Last week, data by US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that Europe’s imports of LNG have marked a steady increase since last October, while have set a new monthly record of 12.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) for November 2019.
