Fluxys Belgium and GRTgaz jointly informed a new gas transmission pipeline connecting France and Belgium has been inaugurated in Pitgam (Nord).
The link, initiated in 2010, is a step towards creating a more integrated gas market in Northwest Europe, the joint statement said.
France’s gas transmission network in Northern France receives gas imports from Norway in Dunkirk as well as in Taisnières through Belgium. The new Dunkirk LNG terminal, scheduled to be commissioned this summer, required further development of the French and Belgian networks.
The new gas transmission link between Pitgam (Nord) and Maldegem (Belgium) facilitates access to additional transport of up to an extra 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
GRTgas built the ‘Artère des Flandres’ pipeline (23 km) and the metering station at Hondschoote on the French-Belgian border, costing €56 million in total, and reconfigured the Pitgam interconnection station with a cost of €30 million, the two companies said.
Fluxys Belgium constructed the Alveringem regulating station, a new interconnection station at Maldegem and a pipeline stretching nearly 75 km between these two sites for a total investment of approximately €100 million.
The link enables the connection of the Dunkirk LNG terminal with the Zeebrugge LNG terminal and makes possible the gas from the Dunkirk LNG terminal to be sent to Germany, the Netherlands or the UK.
Additional, with the new link, Belgian network became entirely bidirectional, the joint statement reads.