Northbound Transitgas flow due by end of summer 2018

Published to the ICIS Dashboard at 16:50

European gas infrastructure developer Fluxys has made a final investment decision on a project to facilitate natural gas flows north from Italy via Switzerland.

The company said on Wednesday the Transitgas system in Switzerland and the TENP network in Germany will become bi-directional from the end of the summer 2018

This will allow shippers to move gas north from Italy into Germany and France. The existing system only allows for gas to move south.

The reversal will provide these countries with access to gas from North Africa, as well as Azerbaijan once the Trans Adriatic Pipeline is completed.

This is expected to facilitate increased liquidity between the Italian PSV, German NCG and French PEG hubs.

Fluxys added that if demand is sufficient, investments could be scaled up to move gas to the GASPOOL area in Germany. A connection to Belgium is also being considered, which would give access to the British NBP market through the Interconnector pipeline.

Capacity products will be sold through the PRISMA auction platform, in line EU rules on capacity allocation mechanisms.

The reverse-flow project remains one of the most obvious and least-costly options for diversifying gas supply sources in the EU, according to the south-north regional investment plan for 2014-2023, produced by the European Network Transmission System Operator for Gas (ENTSOG).

The odorisation of different networks has been one of the barriers to developing the north-bound system. Ben Samuel