Record Surge in Spain’s Energy Imports from Morocco
Spain’s imports of hydrocarbons from Morocco have seen an unprecedented increase over the past five years, coinciding with the Spanish government’s policy under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, which prohibits local exploration and exploitation of energy resources for environmental reasons.
During this period, Morocco transformed from a country that did not export any energy products to Spain in 2018 to a major supplier, with exports reaching 671,000 tons of petroleum derivatives.
Recent data from the Spanish Petroleum Products Reserves Agency (Cores) reveals that Morocco exported approximately 206,000 tons of fuels, including diesel and fuel oil, to Spain since the beginning of 2025. This represents an increase of 428% compared to 2024, where exports only amounted to 39,000 tons. This surge coincided with a significant drop in Spanish imports from Algeria, which totaled about 417,000 tons between January and May 2025, compared to 701,000 tons during the same period in 2024.
In contrast, Italy continued to strengthen its energy partnership with Algeria, importing crude oil worth 345 million euros in 2024, compared to just 237 million euros for Spain, highlighting a clear disparity in energy strategies among Mediterranean European countries.
Despite the positive data regarding Morocco’s rising exports, questions remain about the source of these quantities, particularly since the “Samir” refinery has been inactive since 2016 due to accumulated debts exceeding 4 billion dollars, suggesting that the Kingdom may be acting as a logistical platform for re-exporting fuel imported from other countries.
This hypothesis is bolstered by European concerns that Morocco could serve as an indirect channel for marketing Russian diesel towards Europe, given the absence of Moroccan restrictions on Russian energy products, in contrast to European Union countries. Some analysts believe that Morocco could provide an alternative front to circumvent Western sanctions on Moscow, adding sensitive geopolitical dimensions to this shift in energy equations.
