2023-07-15 09:32:31
The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) concluded on Friday an agreement for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) spread over a period of twelve years with Shell International Trading Middle East Limited FZE.
The agreement, relating to the supply to Morocco of a quantity of 0.5 billion cubic meters of LNG per year, foresees in the first years, the supply through the Spanish ports and the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, then a delivery through future Moroccan LNG terminals, says a press release from the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development.
The Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, quoted in the press release, underlined on the sidelines of this signature, that “Morocco entered the international LNG market for the first time in 2022, thanks to cooperation and an exemplary climate of trust with neighboring countries”, ensuring that “this medium-term supply contract will strengthen the Kingdom’s energy security and improve its competitiveness by accelerating the Moroccan decarbonization strategy”.
Morocco is committed to the decarbonization of several sectors, including electricity, and the increase in the share of renewable energies in the national electricity mix generates a greater need for flexibility and requires access to competitive fuels. and low carbon such as natural gas, recalls the same source, adding that ONEE thus has more than 2 GW of gas power plants under development.
The Director General of ONEE, Abderrahim El Hafidi, for his part, pointed out that “after having made several purchases of LNG on the spot market in 2022, we are delighted today with the signing of this agreement which is the ONEE’s first medium-term purchase contract on the international LNG market”. He affirmed, in this sense, that this agreement will make it possible “to meet part of our needs and guarantee the supply of natural gas to our power stations”, specifying that natural gas is today a major component of the electricity mix. of Morocco because it offers the necessary flexibility to compensate for the massive introduction of renewable energies into our electricity system. Global Origination Director at Shell LNG Marketing and Trading, Mehdi Chennoufi, for his part, said that his company is delighted “to work with ONEE and supply LNG to the Kingdom, to help meet the demand for country’s gas”, stressing that “LNG offers a flexible and reliable source of energy and has a crucial role to play in the energy transition”.
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