Spain, Portugal and France agree to create 'Green Energy Corridor'

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said that Spain, Portugal and France have agreed to create a ‘Green Energy Corridor’ that will transport gas and hydrogen ‘from Barcelona to Marseille’, reviving a previous project long-resisted by Paris known as the MidCat pipeline.

The MidCat project had emerged a decade ago but was dropped in 2019 over regulatory and funding issues. [ALSO READ: Russian invasion of Ukraine revives Spain-France ‘MidCat’ gas pipeline project.]

But with Russia withholding gas deliveries to most of Europe in reaction to sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, there has been a resurgence of interest in a link to bring in much-needed supplies from Spain to the rest of the continent.

With energy prices soaring, Madrid pushed hard for the revival of the project, with the full backing of Berlin, which has seen Russian gas deliveries via a key pipeline shut off for the indefinite future.

‘We have agreed to … a new project to be called the Green Energy Corridor to link the Iberian Peninsula to France and therefore to the European energy market between Barcelona and Marseille,’ Sánchez said on his arrival for an EU summit on the energy crisis.

He said that the pipeline would move hydrogen and gas ‘during a transition period needed by the European energy market’.

‘We continue to work together with Emmanuel Macron and Antonio Costa,’ he added

Spain currently has six liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals for processing gas that arrives by sea which could help the EU boost imports with a better link. But it only has two low-capacity links to France’s gas network, which has connections to the rest of Europe.

España, Portugal y Francia acordamos crear el Corredor de Energía Verde que llevará gas e hidrógeno de Barcelona a Marsella.

Seguimos trabajando juntos, @EmmanuelMacron y @antoniocostapm. pic.twitter.com/XY3fA2xaZb
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) October 20, 2022