Europe wants to break away from Russian natural gas, but new gas pipelines are needed to remove bottlenecks.
19:57•Updated 19:58
Spain could build a gas pipeline to the French border in less than a year, so that more natural gas brought to the Iberian Peninsula could be transported to the rest of Europe, says the Spanish Minister of Energy and Climate Teresa Ribera.
– The gas pipeline could be operational in about eight or nine months south of the border, that is, from Spain to the Pyrenees, Ribera said today to the Spanish broadcaster RTVE.
According to the Minister of Energy, the new gas connection could increase Spain’s gas exports to Europe by 20–30 percent.
The construction of the gas connection also requires the participation of France on its own side of the border.
Also the Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa supported the rapid construction of a new gas connection.
– Germany can rely 100% on Portugal’s commitment to build the gas pipeline. Now it can transport natural gas, in the future green hydrogen, Costa wrote today on the messaging service Twitter.
Costa added that the port of Sines in southwest Portugal can be used as a logistics center to speed up the distribution of LNG to Europe.
A large part of the liquefied natural gas imported to Europe is brought to the Iberian Peninsula. However, the capacity of the gas pipelines connecting it to more northern Europe is limited, so gas cannot be exported as much as there would be demand for it.
Europe wants to disconnect from Russian gas
Germany in particular has supported the idea of a new gas pipeline between Spain and France to improve the energy security of Central Europe.
Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz said yesterday Thursday that he had discussed the topic with the leaders of Spain, Portugal and France, as well as the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen with.
Europe is in the grip of an energy crisis after Russia reduced gas supplies this year. 40 percent of the gas used by the EU was imported from Russia before the attack launched by Russia in Ukraine.
Italy, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary are particularly dependent on Russian natural gas.
According to German Chancellor Scholz, there could also be more connections between North Africa and Europe, which would help to diversify the supply of energy.
In July, Algeria, Niger and Nigeria reached an agreement of intent to build a gas pipeline over 4,000 kilometers long through the Sahara desert.