New EU Import Infrastructure
The Commission is encouraging Member States to improve transnational pipeline connections and to install new LNG import facilities. One aspect of this is the deployment of Floating Storage Regasification Units (“FSRU”) where suitable in the EU[1].
The Commission is also prioritizing hydrogen, as an alternative energy source that can reduce greenhouse gas emission. To reflect this commitment and facilitate their access to EU funding, some European countries are directing their infrastructure construction plans towards the use hydrogen. As an example, the pipeline project between Barcelona and Marseille which was supposed to carry natural gas, will carry only hydrogen. This part of the creation of a Mediterranean gas hub, for which the EU is also contributing to the financing of multiple infrastructure projects, such as the Cyprus East Med Pipeline and the CyprusGas2EU LNG terminal[2].
Recently, the Commission has confirmed funding for the underwater power line project between Italy and Tunisia, for an amount of about 307 million euros. In the same line, President von der Leyen gave her support for the future pipeline that will link France and Spain and carry hydrogen. This project should cost 2.5 billion of euros in total and would be operational by 2030.
According to the New reports highlight 3rd quarter impact of gas supply cuts (see link below), in Q3 2022 “a number of new gas infrastructure projects came online in the course of the period. These include the gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria, the Polish-Slovak gas interconnector, the Baltic pipe, delivering gas from Norway, and a new floating LNG terminal in Eemshaven in the Netherlands”.
Statement of President von der Leyen issued on December 12, 2022:
“The eighth point is: we have improved our infrastructure. We have four new interconnectors that became operational this year. It is the Baltic Pipe, it is the interconnector Poland-Lithuania, the interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece, and the gas interconnector between Poland and Slovakia..”
January 2023:
- New reports highlight 3rd quarter impact of gas supply cuts
- €60bn earmarked for EU Covid recovery could go to fossil-fuel projects, EUObserver
- Germany, Norway want to tie the knot with new hydrogen pipeline, EurActiv
- Germany intensifies energy transition cooperation with Norway and Portugal, Clean Energy Wire
December 2022:
- Czech Republic: EIB to finance modernisation of ČEZ’s distribution grid and connection of new renewable energy sources with a record-breaking loan of €790 million
- Spain and France have put a €2.5bn price tag on a new undersea pipeline between the countries, which will carry only hydrogen and no longer natural gas as originally planned – Financial Times
- Italy-Tunisia power line secures 307 mln euros of EU financing - Reuters
- Connecting Europe Facility: over € 600 million for energy infrastructure in support of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU
- State aid: Commission approves €26.3 million Finnish measure to support SEVO in construction of hydroelectric pump storage
September 2022:
- Nigeria-Morocco Pipeline Inches Toward Providing Gas to Europe - Bloomberg
- New Dutch terminal boosts EU drive to cut reliance on Russian gas | Financial Times (ft.com)
August 2022:
June 2022:
- Germany looking at repurposing unused Nord Stream 2 pipeline for LNG use, report says | Reuters
- Italy’s Adriatic LNG import terminal offers long-term regas capacity - LNG Prime
May 2022:
March 2022
- Italy eyeing two floating LNG plants to cut Russia gas reliance | Reuters
- European Gas Buyers Eye Floating Terminals as Russia Shunned - Bloomberg
[1] See European Gas Buyers Eye Floating Terminals as Russia Shunned, Bloomberg, March 8, 2022, available here ; see also Feature: Europe’s dash for new LNG import infrastructure picks up pace, S&P Global, August 10, 2022, available here.
[2] See L’Union européenne ne fait rien pour réduire sa dépendance au gaz russe ! Vraiment ?, L’Actualité, July 25, 2022, available here.