Page 14 - EurOil Week 20 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Snam, Enagas to study Spain-

Italy gas pipeline

ITALY ITALIAN gas infrastructure operator Snam to Barbaira in the south of France. In addition
has signed a memorandum with Spain’s Enagas to regasified LNG, this project is mainly aimed
The project will help on studying the construction of a gas pipeline at transporting gas from Algeria through Spain
Italy increase its gas between the two countries, in order to bolster to the rest of the EU, complementing two small
options and Spain their energy security. existing gas links between Spain and France.
use more of its spare In an earnings report published on May 12, Spain already gets gas from Algeria via the GME
regasification capacity. Snam said the project would enable both Italy pipeline that runs through Morocco, but Algiers
and Europe to further diversify its gas supply. closed it in November because of a diplomatic
Like most other EU members, Italy has com- conflict with Rabat.
mitted to phasing out Russian gas imports as Following years of studies, the project was
quickly as possible. It plans to achieve this mostly axed in 2019 after energy regulators in both
through an expansion in its LNG regasification countries turned it down over concerns about its
capacity, as well as tapping extra pipeline gas environmental impact and its economic value.
supply from North Africa. MidCat is “crucial” to cut the EU’s reliance
However, with Spain boasting some 67bn on Russian energy and “end the Kremlin’s black-
cubic metres of regasification capacity that is mail,” EU Commission President Ursula von der
largely underutilised because of bottlenecks at Leyen said on May 13 in Barcelona. But the pro-
the French capacity, it provides another way that ject will still face hurdles – not least its $470mn
Italy can tap more non-Russian gas. price tag – and it would likely take three or four
“[Snam] is working to take the necessary ini- years to complete.
tiatives to contribute to [energy] security and to “MidCat cannot be approached as a short-
support the diversification of energy supply in term solution,” France’s ambassador to Spain,
Italy,” CEO Stefano Venier said in a statement. Jean-Michel Casa, said during an interview with
The Ukraine-Russia war and Europe’s sub- Barcelona daily La Vanguadia in March.
sequent push to sever energy ties with Moscow Extra cross-border capacity would also need
has also led to the revival of another pipeline that to be developed at the French-German border
would link Spain with France. Known as Mid- to ensure that MidCat’s gas could travel further
Cat, the project was initially conceived in 2003 into Europe. Germany is one of the largest Euro-
as a 190-km pipeline that would pump gas across pean markets for Russian gas, but wants to end
the Pyrenees from Hostalric, north of Barcelona, imports from the country as soon as 2024. ™

Albania, Bulgaria look at gas options

ALBANIA BULGARIAN energy company Bulgarian gas,” said former US diplomat Matthew Bryza,
Overgas Inc. AD has signed a memorandum now a member of the Overgas board.
The two countries are of understanding (MoU) with Albania’s Albgaz Former US secretary of state Mike Pom-
working together to under which the two companies will co-operate peo, also present at the signing ceremony,
study diversification on projects that will diversify natural gas supplies talked of the uncertainty in the European
of gas supply in the to the Balkans, Overgas said in a press release. energy market at present. “The Balkan region
Balkans. Albania is currently almost entirely reliant on is one of the most vulnerable to the lack of
hydropower but is looking to diversify its energy energy diversity, and the signing of this mem-
sources, including through gasification. orandum of understanding is a strong step in
The MoU sets parameters for planned co-op- the right direction.”
eration in providing natural gas from non-Rus- Svetoslav Ivanov, CEO of Overgas, called the
sian sources through private sector-managed agreement “the first step in regional co-opera-
trade projects. tion to diversify gas supplies to the Balkans”.
“This project marks the first step in a pri- “This memorandum opens a new window for
vate-led effort, strongly supported by the Alba- quality co-operation between our companies,
nian and US governments, to create a new allowing co-ordinated progress towards shared
energy corridor that could help all Balkan coun- goals for energy security and diversification of
tries, as well as the Balkans, Ukraine and Mol- resources,” said Albgaz CEO Arber Avrami at the
dova, reduce its dependence on Russian natural signing ceremony. ™

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