Aenert news. Energy resources and infrastructure
The new edition of the Europe Gas Tracker Report 2023 developed by Global Energy Monitor describes gas infrastructure in the European Union and surrounding nations, including gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, gas-fired power plants, and gas fields.
2022 war marked by record high prices on the global natural gas market. That, plus a massive overcapacity buildout in some countries, led EU member states to spend €101 billion Euro on gas imports between July and September last year, up 249% from the €29 billion in the third quarter of 2021, according to the European Commission.
During 2022, gas imports from Russia dropped from more than 50% to just over 10%, the result of a combination of EU policies and Russia's reactive reduction of pipeline flows. For example, supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline, which previously supplied about 35% of gas to the EU-27, have fallen by three-quarters.
In general, experts note that many countries' energy policies have been affected by the gas crisis that began in 2021 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. This applies in particular to the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG). For example, the EU has proposed, renewed or accelerated 30 LNG terminal projects. Greece, Italy and Germany have the highest levels of planned construction and estimated cost of gas transmission pipelines and terminals for LNG imports to the EU. Overall, the currently proposed increase in LNG imports of 227.2 bcm/y would increase the maximum import capacity of the EU by 136%.
In the period from January 2022 to February 2023, eight comissioned LNG terminal projects have brought 35.2 bcm/y of gas import capacity into operation and a further 11.1 bcm/y of pipeline transport capacity. Three of them are located in Germany, two in Finland and one each in Greece, the Netherlands and Poland.
In addition to the expansion of LNG, hydrogen as an alternative to carbon fuels in industry and energy production also received special attention in 2022. EU set challenging targets of producing 10 million tonnes of domestic clean hydrogen for industry and transport, complemented by 10 million tonnes of imported hydrogen by 2030. In 2022, two important projects for the hydrogen value chain were approved – Hy2Tech for the mobility sector and Hy2Use for industrial applications, with the commitment of member states to allocate up to 10.6 billion euros in public funding. However, the promotion of hydrogen infrastructure on a large scale is fraught with a number of challenges, primarily because of the cost and problems with retrofitting gas pipelines to transport hydrogen.
Experts warn that if most of the planned projects related to changes in the gas infrastructure, mainly capacity building for LNG imports, are implemented, this will increase carbon emissions, pushing the EU further away from its greenhouse gas reduction goals.
By the Editorial Board
Europe Gas Track Report 2023: A policy shift towards LNG
