Spain: better times ahead for gas?
Although the gas market in Spain has suffered and declined recently, prospects for the market could be set to improve in the mid term.
Spain’s gas market has been struggling in recent years. With a weak economy and declining power demand, consumption of gas in the country has fallen, with the volumes of gas into power decreasing particularly rapidly. However, there is some scope for cautious optimism regarding the outlook for the Spanish gas market. An improved economic climate and potential changes to the dynamics of the power market could result in a more positive environment for gas in the coming years, even without domestic supplies from shale production.
Gas demand has been falling since 2008 and will keep falling in 2013. Gas demand from the power sector has suffered significant decreases, and gas’s share of power output has fallen. This is in the context of an economy which is continuing to struggle in H1 2013 and in a market where power demand is also declining.