This Friday the prime minister promised that the route of the Portuguese gas pipeline to the heart of Europe had already been defined, that “work is very advanced” and could replace a “large part” of gas imported from the Iberian Peninsula. Russia.
“We have very advanced works: about which, I believe, 160 kilometers between Celorico da Beira and the border point Where we are connected to the Spanish network”, stressed Antonio Costa in a statement to journalists during a visit to the Luis Madureira daycare in Amadora (Lisbon), after being asked about the statements made by German Chancellor Olaf on Thursday. Scholz called for the construction of a gas pipeline between Portugal and the center of Europe.
As for the Portuguese route of the gas pipeline, Costa said, “there were doubts along the way” because of the environmental damage it could cause. Crossing the Douro ValleyThis is a “highly sensitive shortcut”.
“A path to protect environmental values is now defined, carefully, which is also important to protect in the Douro Valley. So, on our side, in Spain, things are moving forward”, he said.
“This interconnection of the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe was an old ambition”, recalled the chief executive, which was “faced with a difficulty, which was environmental limitations, which influenced France. The pipeline crossing the Pyrenees”.
Costa emphasized this French opposition “has greatly delayed the issue”But he said the European Commission was already considering a new route that would create energy links between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe without going through France.
“If the blockade with France cannot be overcome, the European Commission has already put on the table the possibility that the ‘pipeline’ will have a direct connection from Spain to Italy to reach the center of Europe through Italy. Not through France,” he stressed.
“We are working in this direction, there are technical works in this direction, the decision has been taken,” he said.
In the words of Olaf Scholz, Costa considered the German chancellor’s statement “very important because it reinforces the pressure on European institutions to unblock this situation once and for all.”
“It is very interesting not only for Germany, but also for Poland, very interesting for Hungary and very interesting for all the countries that rely heavily on the energy provided by Russia. It can find a great potential for energy supply from the Iberian Peninsula,” he stressed.
Although neither Portugal nor Spain are natural gas producers, they are “interfaces and gateways, especially for natural gas from the Atlantic – the US, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago -,” the chief executive said. (…) mooring at the signs and, from there, following in the ‘pipeline'”.
“Therefore, the Iberian Peninsula currently has the potential to replace a large part of the gas that Central Europe imports from Russia,” he underlined.
“Europe has finally realized that it must be autonomous from Russia’s energy point of view, and that in building that autonomy, the Iberian Peninsula, namely Portugal, has an extraordinary role to play,” Costa highlighted.
“In the future, with the production of their own gases – through green hydrogen -, being a logistical base for the emission of natural gas produced in other countries”, he underlined.
However, Costa said that Portugal has already informed the European Commission, but also the German and Polish governments, of the availability to use the port of Sines, as the gas pipeline “is not built tomorrow” until it is completed. A logistics platform that accelerates the delivery of natural gas by sea to ports in Northern and Central Europe”.
“The port of Sines is a deep-water port that is capable of receiving large methane tankers (…) and transferring large methane tankers to medium and small methane tankers in Europe – Norway has many – which has a big advantage. That is, ports in Northern Europe are very If they are working with medium and small methane tankers due to congestion, this speeds up the logistics operation,” he said.
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