Spain PM hopes Europe gas link to be a reality ‘soon’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday he hopes a gas pipeline linking the Iberian Peninsula to central Europe through France could soon become a reality.

Europe is currently undergoing an energy crisis as it struggles to rapidly reduce its dependence on Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has reduced deliveries and nations are scrambling for supplies to avoid a possible shortage this winter, while prices for gas and electricity have soared.

“Spain has a lot to contribute to help Europe reduce its energy dependence on Russia thanks to our immense regasification capacity,” Sanchez said on a visit to La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Spain currently has six liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals for processing deliveries made by huge sea tankers back into gas and injecting them into its pipeline network.

But the country has only two low-capacity links to France’s gas network, limiting its current ability to act as a conduit to boost EU gas imports.

Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said a pipeline bringing gas from the Iberian Peninsula through France to central Europe could make “a massive contribution” to easing the supply crisis, in remarks hailed by Madrid and Lisbon.

Madrid has for years championed the idea of a pipeline across the Catalan Pyrenees with France to significantly increase transfer capacity and insisted such link could be built within months.

“This is something the Spanish government has been demanding from Europe for a long time now… and we hope we can soon make this dream into a reality,” Sanchez said.

Spain is already showing solidarity with its European partners by exporting energy “and we will do so even more when we improve the energy interconnections”, he added.

The pipeline would be similar to the defunct MidCat project, which sought to link Spain to France, but which was halted in 2019 over opposition from environmental groups and a lack of funding.

Spain’s gas network operator Enagas said last week it could have the Spanish section of the pipeline ready within “eight or nine months”.

Sources familiar with the project said it would initially transport natural gas, but would ultimately switch to hydrogen.

hmw/CHZ/rl