1. Midi-Catalonia Pipeline

Source:?https://www.gem.wiki/Midi-Catalonia_Pipeline

• Owners:?Enagás, Teréga

• Proposed capacity:?7.5 billion cubic meters a year

• Proposed length:?920 km / 571.7 miles

• Status:?Cancelled

• Start Year:?2022

Background

The MidCat Pipeline was initially pitched as part of the broader EU effort to reduce the bloc's dependence on Russian energy imports by shipping more gas from the Iberian peninsula to the rest of Europe. The project was cut into two sections. The first part is called the South Transit East Pyrenees, or STEP, and is meant to continue the existing abandoned line into France for 120 km, at a cost of about €440 million. France would cover two-thirds of that. The goal was for construction to be completed by 2022. The more expensive second half of MidCat would follow, including reinforcing about 800 km of the gas network in France. The full project aims to add about 7.5 billion cubic meters of cross-border capacity, approximately doubling the amount of gas that can flow between the two countries.[2]

The pipelines was cancelled in January of 2019 after being blocked by French regulators following a determination that the pipelines was not financially viable. The €3 billion project – which was prioritized for EU support by EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Ca?ete in the EU’s list of ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCI list), alongside 100 other gas projects – was last April found to be not financially viable under most scenarios, in an official cost-benefit study. Its cancellation throws into doubt the validity and legitimacy of the criteria used by the European Commission to prioritize similar gas projects on the PCI list.[1]

2.?The Midcat is a gas pipeline that would link Spain and France with the goal of allowing an Algerian gas flow into Europe. The first phase of the project was carried out in 2012 under local resistance, and it is planned to be resumed in 2019.

Source:?https://ejatlas.org/conflict/midcat-gas-pipeline

The Midcat is a projected gas pipeline that would link the Spanish and the French natural gas systems through the regions of Catalonia and Midi Pyrénées. The first 87 km stretch of the gas pipeline (from Martorell to Hostalric) was carried out in 2012, but the project was then set in stand-by due to a lack of interest from the French government. The construction of the first part of the Midcat pipeline was highly controversial back in 2012 due to severe environmental and social impacts in the areas involved. Moreover, the company Enagas was accused of a lack of rigor when planning, executing and managing the project. Nowadays, there are plans of resuming the project in 2019, although there is still uncertainty about the exact date. A new movement of resistance in the province of Girona is mobilizing to oppose the 2nd phase of the project.

The project consists on: 191 km of new pipeline on the Spanish side of which 87 km were already constructed in 2011-12, 148 km of new pipeline on the French side, 328 km of loops in existing pipelines on the Spanish side, two new compression stations with a total power of 46 MW, and the enlargement of two existing compression stations in 30 MW (European Commission, 2016). The project would dramatically rise the cross-border natural gas transmission capacity between Spain and France that is currently set in 170 GWh/d SP>FR and 165 GWh/d FR>SP to 400 GWh/d SP>FR and 245 GWh/d FR>SP. The Midcat was included in the Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list in 2015 as part of the priority corridor called “Bidirectional Flows between Portugal, Spain, France and Germany”, and its commissioning is planned for 2022.

3.?Stalemate Situation for the Future of the MidCat Project

Source:?https://southeusummit.com/europe/stalemate-situation-for-the-future-of-the-midcat-project/

In what is seen as a win for environmentalists, yet a loss for the gas industry, energy regulators of both Spain and France have rejected pushing ahead with the South Transit Eastern Pyrenees (STEP) – a gas pipeline that would link both countries - thereby placing the future of the MidCat project in limbo

Austin Clayton Austin Clayton? ? February 5, 2019 3 minutes read

In an effort to wean itself off of Russian gas supplies, the European Union has turned to alternative suppliers, in order to meet energy needs and improve energy security. With initiatives such as the Southern Gas Corridor currently in the development phase, Europe has turned to large supplies of natural gas from fields across the Mediterranean as one of its sources.

The Midi-Catalonia pipeline (MidCat) was brought to life in early 2015, as a way of taking advantage of North African gas reserves to increase EU energy security. In addition to providing access to the North African market, Spain has been considered as highly promising by Brussels, due to its?immunity?to the gas crises of 2006 and 2009 with Russia. Antoni Peris, the chairman of Sedigas,?stated?in a press conference that “with [the MidCat] pipeline, Spain could replace 10% of what Europe currently receives from Russia.” 75 per cent of Spain’s natural gas is imported in LNG form. But, most importantly, the country is responsible for 40 per cent and 32 per cent, accordingly, of the European Union’s LNG storage and regasification capacities; meaning Spain exceeds any other EU country in terms of regasification capabilities.

According to Miguel Arias Ca?ete, the EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, the?establishment of the MidCat pipeline?would connect the Iberian Peninsula to central parts of Europe. He added that “when built, MidCat will increase energy security across the EU, especially in EU countries more dependent on a single supplier.” As with many of these energy infrastructure projects, the purpose is to build connections to multiple sources, to minimize the amount of risk involved.

While European officials have been optimistic about the 3-billion-euro project, Spain and France have not always expressed the same enthusiasm. According to the?Cost Benefit Analysis of STEP, as First Phase of MidCat,?the?Commission de regulation de l’énergie?(CRE) of France determined that the MidCat pipeline wasn’t in France’s best interest. The report showed that France has enough existing infrastructure to connect the French and Spanish markets, thereby making the venture unnecessary. In the CRE’s assessment, France would end up paying for?more than half?of the total cost of the project, which would be footed by taxpayers.

An early 2018 study of the pipeline highlighted additional concerns surrounding the project. While the EU Commission has always promoted MidCat as a way of transporting gas supplies from both Algeria and the Mediterranean, Michel Boche of Terega, an Italian-owned French gas grid company,?stated?that “the expected flow would be mainly from France to Spain”, which is the opposite direction than what the project proposes.

Despite the project being?listed?as an EU ‘Project of Common Interest’, Xabier Benito Ziluaga of Spain, also a member of the European Parliament, offered an alternative perspective, by?explaining?that the pipeline’s development has been pushed forward, based on the will of private companies, and not with the public’s benefit as a priority.

In addition to the problem associated with the cost, many oppose the project, because of its environmental impacts. Michele Rivasi, a member of the European Parliament,?highlighted?the fact that the MidCat project promotes the continued use of fossil fuels, rather than investment into cleaner energy sources.

Teresa Ribera, the Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition, has also warned of the environmental consequences. In her?interview with Politico, Ribera stressed the importance of remaining cautious with gas infrastructure investments, given European Union targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – entailing a penetration of RES in electricity production equivalent to at least 32 per cent, energy efficiency of 32.5 per cent by 2030 and, most recently, for the Union to become the world’s first climate-neutral economy by 2050.

On January 22, the regulating bodies of France and Spain, officially?rejected?the request to build the central section of the MidCat pipeline, citing high cost and lack of necessity. According to the?official statement, the two countries also took the environmental impact into consideration. While the project has been promoted as a way of improving network integration, regulators pointed out, that encouraging the use of fossil fuels fails to contribute to achieving the goals on EU energy policy. The document concluded, that based on the current situation, there isn’t a great enough need to justify such an expensive project and, therefore, it would not move forward.

With France and Spain offering a hard ‘no’ on the completion of the project, the EU Commission continues to express support for the completion of the MidCat, considering the decision of regulators to be a ‘setback’. ?Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the spokesperson of climate action and energy,?stated?that “it is now for the project promoters to assess the regulators’ decision in detail and decide on the next steps”, signaling that the central authorities may still try to push the project onwards.

Currently, the future of the project will be based on the results of the selection procedure for the Projects of Common Interest list, which will be published later this year. The project has been submitted as a candidate, and if approved, will once again be eligible for EU grants for further development.

4.?Spanish MIDCAT pipeline to replace 10% of Russian gas imports

Source:?https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/spanish-midcat-pipeline-to-replace-10-of-russian-gas-imports/

Mar 28, 2014 (updated:? Jan 8, 2015)

Spain’s sophisticated gas infrastructure could help Europe reduce its dependence on Russian supplies once projects to pump gas across the Pyrenees become a reality, the head of a Spanish gas association said yesterday (27 March).

Europe’s most highly diversified gas importer has vast untapped import capacity which it could use to route gas into France and beyond. But underdeveloped pipeline links with other countries have effectively made Spain a gas island.

“Spain has one of the safest and most diversified gas systems in Europe. We want to offer our capacity to the rest of the continent,” Antoni Peris, chairman of the Sedigas gas association told journalists at a briefing on Thursday.

The EU relies on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas, and tensions with Moscow after its intervention in Ukraine’s political crisis have heightened concerns among its 28 members about the security of their energy supplies. Some 40% of that gas is shipped through Ukraine.

Spain, meanwhile, does not receive any of its natural gas from Russia and was entirely shielded from the EU gas crises of 2006 and 2009 when rows over unpaid bills between Kyiv and Moscow led to the disruption of gas exports to western Europe.

Strategically positioned on the Mediterranean, about half of its gas comes from Algeria and the remainder from ten different countries around the world, mainly in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) which is shipped on tankers.

Spain spent billions of euros on its gas infrastructure during an economic boom. With seven LNG regasification plants, it has more capacity to turn liquefied natural gas back into gas than any other European country.

Now it is lobbying the EU to forge ahead with plans for a new pipeline, called MIDCAT, to transport gas into Europe.

MIDCAT, which is currently on the European Commission’s list of strategically important projects, would put Spain’s interconnection capacity with France at 14 billion cubic metres a year (bcm/y). The 190-km pipeline is planned to run along the Mediterranean coast.

“With this pipeline Spain could replace 10% of what Europe currently receives from Russia,” Peris of Sedigas said.

Right now there is only one gas pipeline between Spain and France, called Larrau, which can transport 5.2 billion cubic metres (bcm/y), a fraction of the 462 bcm of gas consumed by the EU last year.

A new pipeline called Biriatou, running from Spain’s Basque Country into France, could add another 2 bcm/y of interconnection capacity when it is completed in 2015, Peris said.

In response to previous Ukraine gas crises, Europe made some progress in improving cross-border energy networks, boosting storage capacity, and making pipeline flows reversible, putting it in a better position to cope with any disruption of Russian exports than in the past.

Following recent tensions in Ukraine, the EU has asked the United States to start exporting its natural gas. But US President Barack Obama on Wednesday linked any export deal to a new transatlantic trade agreement, and said the EU cannot rely solely on the US to cut its dependency on Russian energy.

The Ukraine crisis has also stirred a debate over other energy sources in the EU, with some advocating stronger targets to use more renewable energy, and others pushing for nuclear, coal or shale gas, which could also help the EU to become more energy independent.?

Background

The 20-21 March EU summit tasked the European Commission to come up with a plan for decreasing the Union’s energy dependence from Russia., in the wake of the Crimea crisis.

At the summit, Council President Herman Van Rompuy also spoke of the need for more national and regional gas interconnectors to be built, specifying that those should include the Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean area. He also spoke of the need of solidarity in case of energy disruptions, and developing interconnectors with third countries, where relevant