Feb 9 (Reuters) - Spain's natural gas imports fell more than 5% in January compared to the same month a year earlier, data from Spanish grid operator Enagas showed on Friday.

Europe's gas inventories have swelled on the back of lower heating demand due to mild winter weather, prompting a drop in imports.

Spain imported the equivalent of 32,306 gigawatt-hours of natural gas in January, Enagas said in a statement.

Algeria was the largest supplier, providing almost 31% of the gas imported to Spain in January, followed by the United States at 29% and Russia at 27%.

The European Union has said its goal is to

end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels

by 2027, but the bloc is

still largely buying

liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Moscow.

LNG shipments made up 65.4% of total imports to Spain last month while the rest were purchases through pipelines, Enagas said. (Reporting by Matteo Allievi, editing by David Latona)