The gas pipeline requested by Germany could be operational from Catalonia to France “within 8 months”

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Minister Ribera confirms contacts with German ministers and welcomes the fact that activation of this decades-old proposal, which France opposed, is being considered

Germany is looking for all kinds of alternatives to its heavy dependence on gas from Russia. The latter is to replace this supply from Moscow with another from Algeria through the construction of a gas pipeline linking Portugal and Spain to Central Europe via France. The vice president and minister of ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, assessed the proposal “positive” and confirmed that she has already been in contact with the federal vice chancellor and head of the economy, Robert Habeck, who is facing “a very complicated situation”. has had to do. due to the weight that Russian gas has in Germany and the complexity of the secession from Moscow, from whom it received more than 50% of this gas.

The plan had been on the table for “decades” but had always had France’s opposition, something that appears to have been resolved given the gravity of the situation. The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, confirmed yesterday that he was already in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Since the beginning of this energy crisis, Spain, which has the largest regasification capacity in all of Europe, had offered to increase the peninsula’s connections with Central Europe. The problem is how long it would take to build this massive infrastructure. In Ribera’s words on TVE, this period could be reduced to “eight or nine months” on the southern border, that is, the part of the gas pipeline that would connect Spain to France through the Catalan Pyrenees, thus supplying this energy to the rest of the European Union.

These deadlines would be achievable as long as France also works in its part of the territory to connect the gas supply from Algeria to the rest of the European continent via Spain. “The energy shortage the EU is going through makes it possible to activate this solution that has been on the table for decades,” lamented Ribera, recalling that in the rest of the continent there is “a kind of central skeleton of gas pipelines”. that connects many countries, but that the Iberian Peninsula “we were isolated” by the border with France.

Currently, the only gas connection Spain has with France is a double gas pipeline that runs under the western part of the Pyrenees, one in Irún and the other in the Navarrese Pyrenees. Between the two, they can barely export 8,000 million cubic meters per year, if experts calculate that the regasification capacity could increase ten times more. The second project, the Midcat, which runs through Catalonia and ends in Girona, is expected to double this volume of shipments, it was paralyzed in 2019 after investing 440 million euros in it due to high costs and the Spanish and French decision to bet on renewable energy. However, since the outbreak of the war, the project has resumed and Spain has asked the EU to help finance the construction of the little more than 200 kilometers remaining between Hostalric (Girona) and the French city of Barbaira.

The vice president also gave two more solutions that would be available before the gas pipeline. On the one hand, the improvement of the infrastructure that already exists throughout the Basque Country by installing an additional compressor that would increase the supply of gas via this route to France by between 20% and 30%, alleviating “almost immediately” part of the problem .

On the other hand, to strengthen the sea bridge so that the existing infrastructure can receive more methane tankers that transport liquefied gas to Spain and from there to other European countries, such as the Italian port of Liborno, Ribera explains. Specifically, the minister is confident that from December it will be possible to “make better use of the resources we have in Gijón” to increase the volume of gas exports by ship to the rest of Europe.

Source: La Verdad

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