On Thursday, France began sending gas directly to Germany as part of European solidarity in the energy field to overcome the halt in Russian gas shipments, the French gas transport network GRTgaz announced.
“In the context of a sharp decline in Russian gas shipments to Europe, and in the context of European solidarity with regard to energy security, GRTgaz has moved to adapt its network, and to formalize a proposal for the commercialization of gas transportation from France to Germany,” the French company said in a statement.
The first gas deliveries to Germany began at 6:00 a.m. at a rate of 31 gigawatt-hours per day, passing through the cities of Ubergelbach (Mouse) on the French side and Middlesheim on the German side, at the meeting point of the gas network lines, according to the company.
The company pointed out that the tidal level “will be assessed daily according to network conditions”, with a maximum capacity of 100 gigawatt-hours per day.
The company explained that this capacity is equivalent to the power of four nuclear units and the equivalent of 10% of what France obtains daily from liquefied natural gas in its four methane stations.
While the only meeting point on the Franco-German border was originally designed to operate in the direction of Germany to France, the flows had to be reversed to allow this movement, according to the company.
It is the first time that France sends gas directly to Germany, as before now we were sending gas to our German neighbor via Belgium,” General Director of the French company, Thierry Trouvé, told AFP.
The French company, in collaboration with German carriers Open Grid Europe and GRTgaz Deutschland, has implemented “technical modifications” to “make the flow from France to Germany efficient”.
For its part, Germany has taken regulatory measures to receive French gas that contains a percentage of sulfur, as German industry does not necessarily use this type of gas.
Germany suffers from a shortage of gas, on which it relies heavily to run its factories, which are its economic backbone.
France has more gas than its neighbour, because it benefits from LNG supplies, mainly from the United States, which made it possible to partially fill its reserves for the winter season by 100%.