Spain An Option As EU Tries To Cut Reliance On Russian Gas

With its undersea pipeline links to Algeria and vast network of liquified natural gas terminals, Spain is well placed to help Europe reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports

Madrid, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Mar, 2022 ) :With its undersea pipeline links to Algeria and vast network of liquified natural gas terminals, Spain is well placed to help Europe reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports.

But this option would require massive investment to create pipelines to take gas from Spain to other European countries.

The European Commission set a target on Tuesday to cut the EU's Russian gas imports by two thirds by the end of the year following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"Spain can and will play an important role in supplying Europe," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday in Madrid following talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Russia currently supplies 40 percent of the EU's gas needs, with Italy and Germany especially dependent.

Spain has six terminals for regasifying and storing liquified natural gas (LNG) transported by sea, the largest network in Europe.

Gas which is transported in liquified form to decrease its volume then needs to be converted back to natural gas to atmospheric temperature.

Separately, a 750-kilometre (465-mile) deepwater pipeline called Medgaz directly links gas-rich Algeria with southern Spain.