European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL)
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European Gas Pipeline Link (Europäische Gas-Anbindungsleitung, or EUGAL) is an operating pipeline in Germany.[1]
Location
The EUGAL pipeline runs parallel to the OPAL Gas Pipeline, increasing the capacity along this route. 275 kilometers of the pipeline are located in Brandenburg, 110km in Saxony and 100km in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania area. The entry point is located at Vierow / Lubmin region near Greifswald, positioned in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the Baltic Sea. Exit points are located at Kienbaum / Groß Köris region in Brandenburg and Deutschneudorf in Saxony along the German and Czech border.[2][3] The pipeline connects with the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipelines at Lubmin; with the JAGAL Gas Pipeline at Kienbaum (and, via a spur pipeline, to the Steinitz-Bernau Gas Pipeline); and with the Czech gas network at Deutschneudorf.[4][5][6]
Project Details
- Operator: Gascade (50.5%), Fluxys (16.5%), Gasunie (16.5%), ONTRAS (16.5%)
- Owner: Gascade (50.5%), Fluxys (16.5%), Gasunie (16.5%), ONTRAS (16.5%)
- Parents: BASF (25.25%), Gazprom (25.25%) Fluxys (16.5%), Gasunie (16.5%), ONTRAS (16.5%)
- Proposed capacity: 55 billion cubic meters per year
- Length: 485 kilometers[7]
- Diameter: 55 inches
- Cost: $3,117,800,000
- Financing: Equity investment by the pipeline shareholders[8]
- Status: Operating[9][10]
- Start Date: Jan. 2020 (String 1), April 2021 (String 2)[9][11]
Background
The European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL) is a planned 485km-long natural gas pipeline system. The proposed capacity of the pipeline is 55 billion cubic meters per year. The pipeline will past through the Baltic coast of Germany via Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and southern Saxony to the Czech Republic border. It is set to be constructed parallel to the existing OPAL Gas Pipeline, and will be connected at the landing point of the Nord Stream 2 network which will deliver Russian gas into central Europe. In early 2018 it was stated that the first string of the pipeline would be operational by 2019 and the second string would be finished in 2020.[2]
The pipeline will connect gas from Russia's Nord Stream 2 project to countries such as Austria, Czech Republic, and Poland, while linking up to gas pipelines that transport gas to northwest Europe and France. The EUGAL pipeline has become politically contentious as it will be part of a process that will effectively double Russia's gas export to Germany while bypassing Ukraine and Poland. Without the 3 billion euro EUGAL project, the Nordstream 2 project is essentially ineffective.[12]
According to the industry group European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), the cost of the pipeline would be €2.620 billion[13] (about $2.9 billion). EUGAL's ENTSOG Project Code is TRA-F-763.[13]
In December 2019 the pipeline's first string was completed, and it began transporting gas in January 2020. As of December 2019, the second string was scheduled for completion in January 2021. The first string can transport 30.9 bcm/year of gas; when the second string is finished, the full capacity of 55 bcm/year will be reached.[14]
According to Chief Project Manager for the EUGAL project, "All the construction work is within the planned time frame. The first string of the pipeline is already complete and has been transporting natural gas according to plan since 1 January 2020." Ludger Hümbscontinued, "The second string and our compressor station in Brandenburg should be completed by the end of the year. After that, the full transport capacity of EUGAL of up to 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year will then be available.”
On September 1 2020, Gascade issued a press release inviting tenders to fill EUGAL for the first time in December 2020.[15] However, on November 16, 2020, Gascade updated their commissioning schedule due to "unforeseen delays in the construction of the new gas infrastructure." EUGAL therefore was projected to "reach full transport capacities" by the second quarter of 2021.[11]
On April 1, 2021, EUGAL announced that both strings are operational.[10]
Ownership and financing
The project's majority owner is Gascade (50.5%), a joint-venture betweeen BASF / Wintershall and Gazprom. The remainder of the pipeline's stakeholders are pipeline transmission operators Fluxys Deutschland, Gasunie Deutschland and eastern Germany’s Ontras. Each operator will receive a 16.5 percent stake in the pipeline, according to Gascade.[12][16]
The project's shareholders are covering EUGAL's investment costs. According to the EUGAL website, "The future capacities of the EUGAL were auctioned back in March 2017 and booked on a binding basis. Given the binding long-term transport bookings for the pipeline which have already been made, the outlook is that the future income is sufficient to finance the investment."[8]
Identifiers
SciGrid_Gas identifies EUGAL in its IGG dataset as INET_PL_1640, INET_PL_1641, INET_PL_1642, INET_PL_1643, and INET_PL_1644.[17]
EUGAL's ENTSOG Project Code is TRA-F-763.[13]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ Eugal - For a Secure Supply of Natural Gas in Europe, EGUAL, accessed March, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL), Hydrocarbons-Technology, accessed March, 2018
- ↑ Trassenverlauf, EUGAL website, accessed June 2020.
- ↑ GASCADE Gastransport GmbH. "Application route in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania" (PDF). EUGAL. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ GASCADE Gastransport GmbH. "Application route in Brandenburg" (PDF). EUGAL. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ GASCADE Gastransport GmbH. "Application route in Saxony" (PDF). EUGAL. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (November 25, 2020). "TYNDP 2020 Annex A.2 – Project Tables". ENTSOG. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Costs and Efficiency, EUGAL website, accessed Dec. 22, 2020
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 GASCADE Gastransport Gmb. "SECOND STRING OF EUGAL BEING LAID UNDER THE RIVER PEENE". Eugal.de. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 10.0 10.1 "EUGAL: FULL CAPACITIES AVAILABLE". EUGAL. April 1, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 11.0 11.1 GASCADE Gastransport GmbH (November 16, 2020). "FULL CAPACITIES WILL BE REACHED ON 1 APRIL 2021". eugal.de. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 12.0 12.1 Gascade names three partners for Eugal pipeline project, Reuters, October 18, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 ENTSOG TYNDP 2020, Annex A, Project Tables accessed Jan. 11, 2020
- ↑ EUGAL: Erster Strang ab 1. Januar 2020 transportbereit, EUGAL press release, 20 Dec. 2019.
- ↑ GASCADE, Gastransport GmbH. "First filling of EUGAL: Invitation to tender for natural gas" (PDF). Eugal.de. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Anteilseigner, EUGAL website, accessed June 2020.
- ↑ Diettrich, Pluta, Medrjoubi (July 23, 2020). "The combined IGG gas transmission network data set". DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems.
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