MADRID- Spain's net imports of natural gas rose 46% year-on-year to 38.26 GigaWatthours (GWh) in October, data from Cores, an independent arm of the Energy and Environment Ministry that monitors energy supplies, showed on Tuesday.
Spain imported a gross 40.4 GigaWatthours (GWh) of natural gas in October, 40.6% more than during the same month last year, though it re-exported 16.4% less gas in October, Cores said.
Shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) accounted for 64% of total imports while the remainder came via pipelines, up from a share of 46% a year ago, Cores said.
During October, Spain imported 13.97 GigaWatthours from Algeria, mainly through the undersea pipeline connecting both countries. However, some 2.42 GigaWatthours came from Algeria on ships, almost four times more than a year ago.
The supply from Algeria could be in jeopardy after the North African country decided in November to shut down a pipeline that feeds natural gas into Spain via Morocco.
Europe's gas imports and reserves have been in the spotlight this year as a supply crunch drove power prices to record highs.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Inti Landauro and Alexander Smith) ((Aida.Pelaez-Fernandez@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 94;))
