Portugal will re-export gas to Europe
The Secretary of State for European Affairs says that Portugal will re-export gas to the ports of central and northern Europe, within a few months, through the Port of Sines in “smaller boats”.
According to Tiago Nunes, Secretary of State for European Affairs, in statements to Jornal Público, in a few months it will be possible to start the transport operation of the gas that arrives at the Port of Sines, in large ships and from origins, and to re-export it several it on “smaller boats” to ports in central and northern Europe. Thanks to its size, it will be possible to unblock congested access to ports in central and northern Europe.
As already mentioned in August by the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, while the Iberian Peninsula gas pipeline project to Europe is not finished, the Port of Sines, due to its strategic location “can be used as a logistics platform to expedite the distribution of natural gas”. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for Europe”.
In this way, Portugal and Spain, in order to solve the problem of connecting the Iberian Peninsula to Europe, with France passing through the Pyrenees, are considering a path through Italy that will have to be validated by the European Union. Olaf Scholtz, German Chancellor, has become one of the advocates of this pan-European gas supply link to the EU, namely Germany.
Ensure the delivery of gas in Portugal
For this process to be necessary, it will be necessary to ensure the delivery of gas in Portugal. In this sense, with the news published by the newspapers Expresso and Público, the Secretary of State for the Environment and Energy, João Galamba, and the president of Galp, Andy Brown, traveled this week to Nigeria to receive the fulfillment of the long-term contracts. deadline for delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Portugal.
It is noteworthy that Nigeria is currently the main supplier of gas to Portugal, with a quota of 55% until July. According to Expresso, cargoes of Nigerian gas have either already arrived in Portugal, under Galp’s long-term contracts (known as Nigerian take), which have been diverted to other countries. It is also known that Nigeria has several oil petroleum records, which also causes restrictions in the logistics of transporting gas to the filling of ships that take LNG to customers in Nigeria.