Nearly £4.33billion (€5bn) in EU funds was spent between 2013 and 2021 on dozens of gas projects, according to a study.
Among these 41 plans, drafted also during years in which the UK was still a member of the European Union, were pipelines, import terminals and interconnections.
International NGO Global Witness noted in a study published in February 2021 that, despite the public money spent, some of these energy projects were either shelved or failed.
Among them is a project for which the EU subsidised in 2015 £5.4million (€6.25m) through a grant and was meant to create a gas pipeline connecting France and Spain.
This project, called MidCat gas pipeline, was meant to transit south through central-eastern France, cross the Catalonia region and reach the mountainous area north of Madrid.
This project, the total cost of which would amount to £2.6bn (€3bn) was initially pitched as part of the broader effort by the bloc to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia’s energy imports.
While the goal was for the construction to be completed, the MidCat pipeline was cancelled in January 2019, after being blocked by French regulators who deemed it not financially viable.
In 2022, Spain tried to revive the MidCat project to ease Europe’s energy crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but to no avail.
Global Witness found other EU-subsidised gas projects that have yet to come to completion.
The Portugal-Spain 3rd gas interconnection was a proposed gas pipeline in Spain running to the Portuguese border. The EU gave £84,229 (€97,359) to this project.
The future of this project, which hasn’t yet been started, depends on the completion of the South Transit Eastern Pyrenees Gas Pipeline between France and Spain, as noted by the EU itself in a note focused on the internal energy market in the Iberian Peninsula.
The European Commission’s document read: “The South Transit Eastern Pyrenees pipeline regulatory treatment is currently being assessed by the national regulators. The development of the third interconnection point between Spain and Portugal is connected to the increase of interconnection capacity between Spain and France.”
The Poland-Czech Republic gas interconnection – also known as Stork II – is a third project that has been shelved in recent years after the EU delivered £1.4m (€1.6m) in grants.
Another shelved gas project is the Eastring, which was meant to link Slovakia to the Bulgarian-Turkish border via Romania and Hungary.
Work on this project, for which the EU subsidised £379,389 (€438,527), was originally planned to start in 2022 and to last for three years. However, it was reportedly postponed indefinitely amid difficulties to find partners willing to export gas through the network.
The Bidirectional Austrian-Czech Interconnector is yet another gas pipeline for which the EU granted £36,330 (€41,993). While works for the original project have been halted, it is reportedly being replaced by a smaller version due to be ready in two years.
