Nigeria, Mexico and Libya are Spain's main oil suppliers in 2021
During the past year 2021, Spain imported 56.2 million tonnes of oil, increasing the amount imported during 2020 by 2.4%. However, it is still 15.23% less than in 2019 (66.30 million) and remains far from the record reached in 2018 with 67.58 million tonnes imported, the Corporation of Strategic Reserves (Cores) has reported.
Oil prices have risen sharply over the past year, rising by as much as 50.4% at year-end in certain cases such as the Brent rate. According to Cores data, under the administration of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, Nigeria has become the main supplier of crude oil to Spain, with 18.3% of the total, followed by Mexico with 13.6% and Libya (11.2%). Further down the ranking are imports from Kazakhstan (7.5%), the United States (7.3%), Saudi Arabia (7%), Iraq (6.7%) and Russia (4.6%).
The sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States prevented Spain from acquiring oil from that nation, forcing it to redistribute its crude oil supply. The last shipments received from Venezuela were in September 2020.
These data have changed with respect to the same period in 2020, with imports from Nigeria falling by 5.2% with respect to the previous year and those from Mexico by 9.4%. On the other hand, growth is represented by Canada, tripling its supply to increase by 174.5% with respect to 2020, and Libya, which has managed to position itself as the nation with the highest growth in its crude oil exports to Spain by tripling (218.8%) in 2021, once oil production, largely interrupted by the Libyan civil war, has been reactivated.
December 2021
During the last month of 2021, Spain increased its crude oil imports by 8% compared to the same period in 2020, acquiring an amount of 4.86 million tonnes.
In the month of December, 28 types of oil were imported from nineteen different countries. Nigeria was the main supplier with 1.06 million tonnes (21.8% of the total). Mexico supplied 584,000 tonnes (12% of the total), with imports falling by 35.5% compared to December 2020. Third place went to Kazakhstan, with 471,000 tonnes supplied in December (9.7% of the total for the month).
The last month of 2021 benefited OPEC member countries, which increased their supply to Spain by 45% compared to the same period in 2020, reaching 53.8% of the total. This increase occurred in all OPEC member countries, except Saudi Arabia, whose imports fell by 56% compared to December 2020. The rest of the non-OPEC countries saw their supply fall by 16.7% compared to the same month in 2020.
Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.