A view shows the Orenburg gas processing plant of Gazprom in the Orenburg Region, Russia Septeember 6, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk

July 10 (Reuters) - Russia provided 27.9% of Spain's gas imports in May, up from 11.9% a year earlier, Spanish government data showed on Monday.

Russia was Spain's second biggest supplier of gas in May after Algeria, Cores, an arm of the Energy and Environment Ministry, said in a statement.

Spain imported the equivalent of 9,663 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of natural gas from Russia, more than twice the 4,357 GWh it imported in May 2022, Cores said.

In April, imports from Russia made up 17% of the total.

Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera told Reuters in May that European Union countries would agree "sooner rather than later" to ban imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia.

Spain's natural gas imports fell 5.4% to the equivalent to 34,683 GWh in May from a year earlier.

The country re-exported the equivalent of 9,683 GWh of gas in May - mainly to France - a 24.6% increase from a year earlier.