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| France rectifies and now opens to examine the proposal of Germany and Spain on the MidCat gas pipeline. |
What is the MidCat gas pipeline and why is France now open to examining its construction?
Winter is coming and Europe knows it. With the cold weather knocking at the doors and the supply of gas in much of the continent subject to the good (or not so much) will of Russia, many countries are now turning their eyes to the south and hoping to remedy the energy crisis thanks to a gas pipeline between Spain and France: the MidCat. Defended by countries like Germany, which fears reaching energy rationing in the coming months, the project is viewed with mistrust by France, with a clear commitment to nuclear power. However, the Gallic Government opened this Tuesday to examine the proposal.
Because "friends ask for it". It was the reason given by the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, this Tuesday afternoon to justify the change in position of his Executive regarding the gas pipeline. He said this after his speech before the summer university of the French employers' association (Medef) in Paris, after the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, once again jointly insisted on the need to carry out the project.
What is MidCat?
It is a gas interconnection between Spain and France, whose key piece is a 227-kilometer tube through the Pyrenees to connect the networks of both countries. The infrastructure would run from the Catalan town of Hostalric to the French town of Barbaira -which would add to the two existing pipelines in the western part- and could increase the export of gas to the rest of Europe from autumn/winter 2023 -the date by which it would be ready, according to government estimates.
As for the investment required to undertake this work, the National Gas Company (Enagás) puts the disbursement at 370 million to complete the more than 100 kilometers on the Spanish side to the French border. It is the cost of the pipeline and a compressor station for renewable hydrogen, the construction of which should facilitate the transition to that energy. In addition, this plan would imply other expenses in infrastructures in both countries and the capacity of the conduit would be 7,000 million cubic meters (bcm).
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Why isn't it built yet?
Although Spain and other countries have now chosen to rescue this initiative, in the midst of an energy crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is not new. "The Midcat is a project that is scheduled for around 2020", said the Minister of Industry and Energy, José Manuel Soria, in March 2015, after the signing of the Madrid Declaration by Spain, France, Portugal, and the European Commission.
However, the Spanish National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) and the French Energy Regulation Commission (CRE) knocked down this plan in 2019 by rejecting the investment request submitted by Enagás and by the French company Teréga, for consider that it was not profitable and did not meet "the needs of the market" and lacked "sufficient maturity to be considered in a cross-border cost allocation".
Who defends it and why is France opposed?
In the midst of an energy crisis that has been worsening for months and shows no sign of improving in the short term, the idea of some countries to revive this plan responds to the need to end dependence on Russia and cushion supply problems. Spain promotes it, aware of its advantageous situation by concentrating around 30% of Europe's regasification capacity, and Germany supports it, needing to avoid rationing and reduce its vulnerability; while Brussels gives the go-ahead.
Their respective interests have led both powers to promote the project against the will of France, which has been reluctant for years to implement it, oriented toward nuclear power. Elysee's bet is clear and does not go through the MidCat. The Gallic country obtains approximately 70% of its electricity from atomic energy, thanks to the 45 reactors that are still active and Emmanuel Macron's objective is to promote this line. Now, at the moment, only a third of its nuclear park is operational due to different problems.
Why has France changed its mind?
After years rooted in the no, the French Executive has opened this Tuesday to examine the gas pipeline project because Madrid and Berlin ask it. "From the moment that the President of the Spanish Government and the German Chancellor request it, from the moment that friends ask for it, we examine the request of our friends, of our partners," reported the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
After the announcement, the Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain, Teresa Ribera, was quick to speak out and assess the change in discourse: "There has been a movement in the right direction that highlights the Europeanist commitment of the French Government". The same one who questioned in recent days, without going any further, this Tuesday morning in an interview on RAC 1.
What is plan B?
Given the reluctance of France to recover this project, there is a plan B that could materialize if the MidCat does not prosper. It is an underwater gas pipeline of just over 700 kilometers between Barcelona and Livorno under the Mediterranean, which would link the regasification plants of both cities. This project, to which the Executive opened the door a few days ago, would cost between 2,500 and 3,000 million euros.
"At the moment, what we are doing is activating a kind of maritime bridge between Barcelona and Livorno. A large regasification plant with storage capacity and to receive large methane tankers from which smaller methane tankers leave for the other plant in Livorno, which is older. and of a smaller size for regasification," explained Ribera.
With this work, the gas would be injected for consumption in Italy that could be redistributed to the rest of the continent. However, in the words of the minister, the Barcelona-Livorno is a "more complicated" engineering work. "The simple, the clean, in a country that calls itself pro-European, at an extremely critical moment for Europe, is to go for the easiest, for what can be operational for the fall-winter 2023-2024," he said, referring to France. and the MidCat.
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