Madrid (EFE).- Spain increased its crude imports by 13.2% to 63,596 kt in the whole of 2022, a year marked by the energy crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the country from which the Imports fell by almost 73%.
Crude imports came mainly from Africa (20,608 kt); North America (15,434 kt); Middle East (10,298 kt); Europe and Eurasia (9,230 kt), and South and Central America (8,025 kt), according to the advance results published this Friday by the Corporation for Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES).
Specifically, in 2022 Nigerian crude oil imports accounted for 12.8% of the total; those of the United States, 10.4%; those of Mexico, 9.6%; those of Brazil, 8.5%; those of Iraq, 8.2%; those of Libya, 7.9%; those of Saudi Arabia, 7.5%; those of Kazakhstan, 5.2%, and those of Algeria, 5%, among other countries.
At the end of the year, the largest increase in imports of crude oil to Spain compared to 2021 was registered in those from Central and South America, which shot up 220%.
Increases were also observed in the Middle East (33.9%) and North America (17.1%). By contrast, imports from Europe and Eurasia fell by 20% last year and those from Africa by 3%.
Regarding the month of December, imports of crude oil to Spain grew by 13.2% compared to a year earlier, reaching 5,510 kt.
