The statement added: “Due to the nature of Morocco’s neighborhood, and in anticipation of this decision, the necessary arrangements have been taken to ensure the continuity of the country’s supply of electricity.”
The statement indicated that “other options for sustainable alternatives are currently being studied, in the medium and long term.”
On Sunday, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune decided not to renew the contract to exploit the gas pipeline that supplies Spain with Algerian gas through Morocco, due to “the aggressive practices of the Kingdom of Morocco,” according to a statement issued by the presidency.
The contract was concluded between the Algerian company Sonatrach and the Moroccan Diwan of Electricity and Water. As a result of not renewing the contract, Algerian gas supplies to Spain will be limited to the offshore gas pipeline “Medgaz”, which was put into service in 2011.
A statement by the Algerian presidency stated: “The President of the Republic ordered the national company Sonatrach to stop the commercial relationship with the Moroccan company, and not to renew the contract”, which ends on October 31 at midnight.
The statement explained that President Tebboune’s decision came after consulting the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Energy and Finance, and “in view of the aggressive practices of the Kingdom of Morocco towards Algeria, which harm national unity.”
According to a Moroccan expert familiar with the file, Algerian gas was supplying two thermal power plants in Thardat (north) and Ain Beni Mathar (east) with an amount of about 700 million cubic meters per year.
This expert in the energy sector told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the impact on domestic consumption would be “marginal”, explaining that “even if the two stations of Hadart and Ain Bani Mathar are closed, this will not have an impact.”
Since 1996, Algeria has been supplying about 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Spain and Portugal via the Maghreb-Europe pipeline.
In exchange for a gas pipeline transiting through its territory, Rabat annually obtains about one billion cubic meters of natural gas, which represents 97 percent of its needs.
Morocco gets half of it in the form of paid road rights in kind, and the other half buys it at a differential price, according to experts.
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