Spain will increase gas supplies to France and Italy

MADRID, Sep 22 – PRIME. Spain has prepared the technical base to increase gas supplies to France and is also going to invest in infrastructure to send more liquefied natural gas to Italy, according to the website of the government of the country, citing Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera, who visited a compressor station in the Basque Country on Thursday .

“Technically, the station is already ready to send gas when our French neighbors demand it,” she said.

The facility has successfully completed technical start-up tests to increase the capacity of natural gas supplies to Europe by an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters per year. This means that Spain will increase its export capacity by 18%. Thus, the kingdom is ready to provide 6% of the natural gas consumed by France, according to the government website.

Ribera also announced the approval of three projects to improve Italy’s gas supply infrastructure. For example, the berth of the regasification plant of the Spanish energy company Enagas in the port of Barcelona will be adapted to increase the carrying capacity, which will make it possible to deliver gas to the coast of Italy from small vessels.

The minister also recalled that strengthening the energy sovereignty of the European Union and further weakening dependence on Russia is possible only with the introduction of renewable energy sources, increasing the efficiency and storage of resources, as well as combining electricity and gas infrastructure in Europe.

“Renewable energy sources and a system of interconnection between friendly countries is the only way … We cannot depend on Russia,” Ribera said.

At the moment, Spain is actively positioning itself as a major gas hub capable of resolving the European energy crisis caused by the reduction in Russian gas supplies.

The Kingdom is considered one of the EU countries with the widest list of natural gas suppliers. According to the EpData information platform created by Europa Press, among the traditional gas exporters to the kingdom are Algeria, the United States, France, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Norway, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago.