Brussels, 26/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Energy Union Maros Safcovic set the cat among the pigeons on Monday 25 April, questioning the need for the German-Russian plan to double the amount of gas pumped via the Baltic Sea with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Europe may end up with more gas than it needs if the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is built, Sefcovic suggested, on the sidelines of the Hanover fair on Monday, in comments reported by Reuters. He said that the pipeline plans raised a lot of questions, including over its business case in light of the Commission's gas demand estimates till 2030.
“It would imply that we are going to build excessive capacity ... which would make it economically very difficult to operate the Ukrainian transit route”, Sefcovic said, noting that construction of Nord Stream 2 would raise doubts also over the long-term use of the existing Yamal pipeline, which delivers mainly Russian gas to Germany and Poland via Belarus.
Since the announcement in September 2015 of the shareholders' agreement between Russia and five western European energy groups (BASF and E.ON of Germany, Engie of France, OMV of Austria and the Anglo-Dutch company Shell) for its construction, the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which would double capacity along the existing Nord Stream 1 route under the Baltic from 55 to 110 billion cubic metres per year, has caused an outcry among the countries of central and eastern Europe fearful that the project would restrict their supply routes and marginalise Ukraine, through which currently passes 50% of Russian gas for the EU market.
In the face of criticism, the Nord Stream 2 consortium argues that the project is needed to plug a supply gap of around 140 billion cubic metres by 2035 due to rising demand and falling domestic gas production in Europe.
According to Commission estimates, between 370 and 450 billion cubic metres of gas per year will be needed by 2030 to meet EU demand.
These estimates have been criticised by some analysts and environmental groups as being too high. In response, Sefcovic said the Commission would seek additional expertise from the International Energy Agency and the European network of gas transmission operators, ENTSO-G. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)