Algeria has reportedly rejected proposals to reopen the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME), despite months of lobbying by several European countries seeking to restore flows toward Spain, the Washington-based energy outlet Attaqa said.
According to Attaqa, later echoed by Spanish media, Algiers dismissed multiple attempts to “test the waters” on resuming exports through the GME, which crosses Moroccan territory.
The pipeline has been idle since October 31, 2021, when Algeria unilaterally ended its transit contract with Morocco’s ONEE and state-owned Sonatrach, as part of a series of hostile measures against Rabat.
Sources told Attaqa that Spain and other international partners pitched the GME revival as a way to diversify supply routes for Algerian gas into Europe.
Since the contract rupture, Morocco has effectively closed the chapter on Algerian gas. The ONEE now sources LNG on global markets, regasifies it in Spain, and reverses flows through the GME to power plants at Tahaddart and Aïn Beni Mathar.
Imports have surged in 2025. Between January and August, Morocco brought in 6.73 TWh, up from 6.29 TWh during the same period in 2024. August alone hit 992 GWh, the year’s peak. Spanish watchdog Cores confirms the trend: Morocco is now the second-largest destination for Spanish gas exports, after France.
Spain and Italy have significantly accelerated their efforts to diversify gas supplies. In early November 2025, Spain finalized a long-term LNG contract with Oman, securing gas shipments over the next decade in direct response to the GME standoff.
Meanwhile, Spain’s extensive LNG infrastructure has enabled a major pivot: it now re‑exports regasified US and other LNG shipments to Italy using a virtual pipeline model, which has helped increase Spanish-to-Italian gas deliveries nearly ninefold—reaching approximately 12,183 GWh last year.
