Portugal creates an alternative to bring gas to Europe
by João Campos Rodrigues and Sónia Peres Pinto
One of President Zelensky’s appeals in his speech this week to the Portuguese Parliament was the Russian gas boycott. And Nascer do SOL found that the Government is already working on building a solution to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Northern Europe, in order to provide an alternative energy supply to countries
One of President Zelensky’s appeals in his speech this week to the Portuguese Parliament was the Russian gas boycott. And Nascer do SOL found that the Government is already working on building a solution to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Northern Europe, in order to provide an alternative energy supply to countries such as Germany or Poland. , dependent on Russian gas imported through the Nord Stream pipeline.
The project, called the Atlantic Front of Europe (but which could also be called ‘Miguel Torga’, based on the author’s famous phrase: «’The Portuguese do not transform, they transport»), was by the Minister of Economy, António Costa Silva, to the Prime Minister António Costa and the former Prime Minister, giving instructions for its implementation.
In this sense, there has already been a first working meeting to analyze and discuss the project between Minister Costa Silva and his peers in Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, and Environment, Duarte Cordeiro, the Secretary of State for Energy, João Galamba, and the President of the Port of Sines, José Luís Cacho.
or the financing of the project for the use of hydrogen
Costa Silva’s idea of a temporary solution for the construction of a gas from Europe, which will have to cross Spain to France, a project that will now have the support and the support of construction of the United States (one of the even producers) of natural gas) and of the institutions of the European Union. Taking advantage of the Sines port and investment producing countries planned for the rest of Europe, Portugal will ensure the transhipment of liquid natural gas (LNG) from large ships made or producing countries such as the USA, Nigeria or others to smaller and smaller vessels. , which can then send you to Northern Europe. One of the supply problems in Northern Europe is the limitation of the North Sea to deep-draft vessels and the saturation of navigation. This does not apply to smaller bars and draft.
In addition, Costa Silva’s proposal also involves, in a second phase, the bet on the railway, with transport of LNG in night trains, taking advantage of the Spanish high speed network with connection to the European TGV network through France – missing Sines and Badajoz .
EU and US priority
This morning, the prime minister kicked off the Portuguese project by defending that it is «a top priority» to invest in the energy transition, in own energy production in Europe and in the diversification of supply routes. And he also said that Russia “has proved everything we have been saying for a long time: there is no strategic autonomy for Europe if there is no energy security for Europe”.
The boss still officials from Portugal from the energy source, but that can be produced with all renewable energy sources, but can be produced with the base of all renewable energy. In this regard, he highlighted the importance of increasing interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the European market, and added that Portugal and Spain could exceed 30% of European natural gas capacities.
After two years of the Invasion of Ukraine by the following Putins, and the energy supply unit of the North after that, the international community to persuade the Kremlin to back down, to an alternative energy supply to Europe and an alternative energy supply from the North to Europe and an alternative energy supply to Europe and an alternative energy supply to Europe and an alternative energy supply to Europe and Nord Stream is a priority for the USA. Something that gained more after the Swiss company that owns the Stream 2 gas filed for bankruptcy and sent its 106 employees. A company that intends to increase the distribution of natural gas in this city will have the process of increasing the distribution of natural gas.
This pipeline was built to connect Russia to Germany directly, through the exponential growth of the supply of natural gas to Europe, Germany’s decision blocked the description of the infrastructure.
It is true that the complex connection between Europe and Russia is very, as Carla Fernandes, IPRI-NOVA researcher and expert in Energy and Security, admitted to Nascer do SOL. «We are talking about a system that goes from production to transport to the final consumer». And she recalled that “increasing the availability of liquefied natural gas is an option and this is the EU’s strategy until the end of the year. But terms of regase capacity are necessary”, referring to the process of returning the gaseous form, for commercial use, after the transport of liquefied natural gas, normally via tankers.
embargo with costs
The Bungalow, although the central bank of Germany, warns that if the European Union, for an embargo on Russian gas production, could come to the largest economy in the Eurozone about 80 billion euros lost this year . This note was included in the German central bank’s monthly bulletin, released this Friday, and also points out that a Russian gas embargo would take up to 5% off German Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022. energy further pushes the German economy to a position of importance.
On the table is the proposal to want to ban as delivery of all natural gas continues. According to Eurostat data, the European Union imported more than 24% of Russia’s energy in 2020. Russia was the main supplier to the European Union that year, even being Europe’s key supplier for sources such as natural gas, oil and coal.
being that of Russian energy accounted for about 31% of the energy used by Germany, the eighth most exposed country to energy originating in Russia. But, taking into account only natural gas, Germany has an exposure of 58.9% to Russian gas, followed by 35.2% in oil and 21.5% in coal.