From Bloomberg [2], Oct. 27:
Spanish fishermen blocking the ports of Barcelona and Bilbao have refused to end their protest over soaring diesel fuel costs, threatening shipments to liquefied natural gas terminals in the cities.
Port authorities at Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia said the ports are still closed after fishermen refused to accept an agreement signed earlier today, port officials, who asked not to be identified, said by phone. This means at least two of Spain's four liquefied natural gas regasification terminals remain closed.
Gas network operator Enagas SA said gas supplies may be cut from Oct. 31 if the blockade to the regasification terminals continues. Gas-fed power plants and large industrial users would be the first affected.
The federation of fishing co-operatives for the region of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital, is meeting to discuss whether they accept the agreement, said a spokeswoman for the co-operative in Tarragona.
The ports of Tarragona and Cartagena have been opened to sea traffic, officials from the Port Authority of Cartagena said.
Earlier today, the agriculture ministry said it had reached an agreement with fishermen after it offered to pay 0.095 euro ($0.12) per liter of diesel fuel bought by fisherman, a ministry spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview.
The agreement is conditional on the lifting of port blockades according to a copy of the document obtained by Bloomberg News.
See our last post on the global oil shock [3].
