Spanish Diesel Imports From Morocco Raise Eyebrows

Spain has imported over 155,000 metric tons of diesel and gasoil from Morocco so far this year, even though the North African country has no operating oil refineries and relies instead heavily on Russian supplies to meet domestic demand, according to ship tracking data by Vortexa.

Indeed, Morocco imported 4.34 million mt of diesel and gasoil in the first half of 2026, of which Russia was the main supplier, providing 1.35 million mt. A further 0.65 million mt was supplied by Spain, according to Vortexa.

Spanish media reported that the inverted diesel flows from Morocco into Spain could actually be a case of discounted Russian fuel being re-exported into Europe.

Vortexa data reveals that the Erdek is due to arrive in Huelva this week with a 10,000 mt cargo from the port of Jor Lasfar.

Earlier, the Aldebaran and the Sea Dragon discharged 33,000 mt and 43,000 mt in Bilbao on June 22 and May 12 respectively, while the Harbiye unloaded 38,000 mt in Tarragona on April 8. The rest of the volumes were shipped to Ceuta, Las Palmas and Malaga in smaller parcels.

The EU banned the import of Russian oil products, including diesel, from February 2023 in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

–Reporting by Jaime Llinares Taboada, jllinares@opisnet.com; Editing by Rob Sheridan, rsheridan@opisnet.com