Spanish gas demand spikes in December but outlook still blea

Spanish monthly gas demand rose above 2012 levels in December for the first and only time in 2013, driven by a surge in demand for gas-fired electricity generation.

Spanish gas demand for December rose by 1.9% year on year – to 35.4 TWh – data from Spanish grid operator Enagas shows.

Low Spanish wind power generation coupled with outages at two nuclear power plants meant demand for gas-fired generation rose sharply in mid-December, pushing overall gas demand to an annual high of 1.440 TWh on 12 December. The wind utilisation factor on that day stood at 16%, nearly half the normal figure for that time of year of 31%.

The spike in demand for gas represents a welcome change in fortunes for Spanish gas-fired generators, which, like those in neighbouring France, have struggled to remain competitive with stagnant economic demand and renewables eating into their market share.

However, apart from December’s brief respite, the overall picture for Spain’s gas-to-power sector appears bleak, with economic demand unlikely to pick up by any significant degree in the short term.

This unpromising state of affairs was underlined by Spain’s full year 2013 gas demand figures, which showed a drop of 8.1% compared with 2012 – to 333.3 TWh.