Spain multiplies by four the shipment of gas via France so far this year

The conflict in Ukraine has shot up gas exports from Spain to record highs due to the interconnection with FranceSince August no gas has been shipped and in the sector they explain that these are “cyclical factors”For years the connection between France and Spain has been used in the direction of the entry of gas from the neighboring country Spain wants to play a savior role in the current energy crisis. Pedro Sánchez assured this Tuesday that we are the “most supportive country in the EU”. The President of the Government was referring to the shipment of gas to the rest of the European countries since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The closure until further notice of the main gas pipeline connecting Germany with Russia will further test Spain’s ability to help in this complicated context. “10% of the natural gas that reaches the EU enters through our country. 7% by ship (LNG) and 3% by gas pipelines”, detailed Sánchez. Our country is increasing the arrival of gas in methane tankers at ports and exploiting the interconnection with France as never before seen. Through the Irún and Larrau (Navarra) pipes that have connected us with France since 1993 (and expanded in 2013), we have already sent almost four times more gas to Europe than last year. The comparison with the pre-pandemic period is much more impressive: in 2019, 0.009% of what we have seen this year was sent. Come on, before shipping hovered around zero megawatt hours. It was rather France that sent gas to Spain. Those 18.5 megawatt hours of gas that have crossed the border to Europe since January are equivalent to around 18 methane tankers loaded with LNG. (The gas arrives in liquid form at the ports and there some regasification plants return it to its natural state to be able to send it through pipelines). The problem is that not all countries have this regasification capacity. Germany has none. The amount of gas injected into the European network is equivalent to 5% of all that Spain consumes of this fuel in a year. The shipping connection with France is not that powerful, hence the debate about whether another gas pipeline with the neighboring country is necessary. But since the beginning of August, Spain has stopped helping through this connection. Rather the other way around: we are bringing fuel from the neighboring country. “This is a temporary situation,” explain sources in the sector. “The fact that there is more or less flow and the direction in which it flows are the decisions of the marketers.” “I think that this stop since August is something that we did not expect because Spain has been exporting all year. In addition, the EU has asked countries for solidarity with gas,” an expert analyzes. “The important thing will be the winter season: from autumn to March.” Until now the Spanish-French connection has been at half of its maximum capacity. France’s nuclear problems and the need to increase gas reserves due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have temporarily changed the situation. But the underuse of these gas pipelines has been one of the reasons given by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to reject the construction of a new pipeline, the so-called Midcat, from Catalonia to the south of France. The limitations to “help our European brothers” Now that Russia has completed its threat by completely closing the gas tap to Europe, the entry of this fuel by ship will be more relevant than ever. Our country has a third of the regasification power in the EU to be able to receive these methane tankers and inject the fuel into the European network. The idea that once we get the gas that arrives in Spain crosses the border with France and from there it is sent to Germany is full of obstacles. Let’s say that our connection with the rest of the continent is a secondary road that, on the other side of the Pyrenees, meets a French national road that does not reach Germany directly. The gas pipeline system in France is somewhat complex and is divided into three zones. France would need to invest billions to improve its gas network when its priority is not gas but nuclear energy The only direct connection point between France and Germany is not as powerful as imagined. It is only a third higher than the one that unites us with the Gallic country. The other connections from France to Germany – via Belgium and Switzerland – are already operating at full capacity and there is not much room left to add the extra gas that would come from Spain. And then there is the problem of smell. “Odorization in the French piping system is a problem,” Giovanni Sgaravatti, a Bruegel researcher, confirms by email. France odorizes the gas to be able to detect leaks, but Germany does not. “It is a problematic issue because the flow of gas does not always follow the short-term price differential. Although gas prices are substantially lower in France, gas still flows from Germany to France and not the other way around,” explains this expert. .This problem of odorization does not exist in the case of exchanges between Spain and France. And although in our case traditionally the flows have always been from north to south, Putin’s blackmail is turning it around.