“Med Gate” Gas Pipeline… Will Save “Old Continent” Project Revival?

And he said Schultz During a press conference in Berlin, he expressed great interest in the pipeline, which “the continent lacks today”, explaining that a pipeline should be built between Portugal and Spain, through France to Central Europe.

But experts and analysts confirmed that the project Schultz spoke of began in 2013 to build a gas pipeline.Met Cat“It was dropped in 2019 because there was no agreement between Catalonia in north-east Spain and south-east France over its funding, so what happened?

The German chancellor’s call for a new gas pipeline or revival of an old project during his speech did not provide any details, but Spain has revived calls for a “Medgate” gas pipeline. Russian action in Ukraine.

In this case, Assef Melhem, director of the Moscow-based GCM research center, says that Europe is constantly looking for ways to compensate for the shortcomings of the European Union. Russian Gas Before the winter, the most recent of which was the Mid-Catalonia pipeline project known as the Med Cat.

Economist Asif Melhem, during his report to “Sky News Arabia”, should first note that Spain and Portugal do not import Russian gas, the gas network in the Iberian Peninsula is completely isolated from European gas. network. Hence the importance of this project is limited to Central European countries.

Regarding more details about Europe’s moves to renew any old gas projects, Asef Melhem continued: “In fact, France is connected to Spain with two gas pipelines in the French regions of La Rue and Pierato, but the capacity of these two pipelines is the same. No more than 7 billion cubic meters per year, and This is not enough to meet the gas needs of European countries.

According to the Financial Times, quoting Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Climate Change, Ms. Teresa Ribera, the process to reorganize the midgate line will take no more than 9 months.

Does the project meet Europe’s needs?

In that area, says Melhem, we are talking about a line stretching from the village of Ostalreich, northeast of Barcelona, ​​to the French village of Prabera, which, according to various estimates, is about 190 kilometers long; Therefore, it is the process of connecting part of the Spanish gas network to the rest of Europe.

Asif Melhem insists that the answer is a clear “no”. The total annual consumption of Spain and Portugal is about 40 billion cubic meters, while Germany alone consumes more than 85 billion cubic meters annually.

Algeria supplies about 50% of the gas needs of Spain and Portugal, which it exports through a pipeline network across the Mediterranean Sea, and Algeria exports gas in liquefied form, with the remainder obtained by Spain and Portugal from various other sources. Especially liquefied gas.

In that corner, Dmitry Viktorovich, a Russian academic on Russia’s international politics, says that Europe is now trying to take advantage of points close to it to get gas as an alternative to Russian gas. They are concentrated in the Middle East, especially in Algeria.

Dimitri Viktorovich, during his report to “Sky News Arabia”, Algeria produces about 90 billion cubic meters annually, of which 62% is exported to Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal) through the pipeline network, the remaining 38% is in its liquefied form, and In those numbers, we note that Algeria’s total production is only 55% of the volume of Russian gas exported to Europe, so the possibility of compensating for Russian gas by increasing Algerian gas production seems unrealistic. In the short and medium term, whatever the possibility of connecting the Iberian pipeline network with the rest of the European continent.

Regarding the “Med Gate” line, the Russian academician in international politics pointed out that the arrival points of the Algerian gas lines to Spain are far from the starting point of the Midgate line and the French border, the distance is approximately 900-1000 kilometers, so the distance to lay new pipelines on these lines will take a lot of time, 9 months Not only that, but years, contrary to what Europe promotes, that tax solves part of the problem and nothing more, and the old continent will not be able to supply Russian gas in the short and medium term.