Thyssengas: 'We Can Make NS2 Work'
The boss of Thyssengas, a gas grid operator in the west German industrial heartland of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), wants closer cooperation with Gazprom so that his region can become a gas hub.
“Our goal is a direct connection with Nord Stream 2, in order to transport Russian gas to NRW without any detours,” Thyssengas CEO Axel Botzenhardt told German newspaper Der Westen, adding that his company has already put a project forward with that in mind.
The project is for a 100-km pipe linking Epe in rural Westphalia to Drohne in the north German state of Lower Saxony, with a connection to Gazprom-owned Astora’s nearby 4.4bn m³ gas storage facility at Rehden. “Together with partners we could invest around €300mn,” the Thyssengas CEO said.
Europe‘s most important gas hub is the Netherlands, he added: “But that doesn’t have to be so for all time." Germany’s gas supply comes mainly from Russia, Norway and the Netherlands but, he cautioned, “Gas from the Netherlands is running out – at the latest in 2030 – so we must act now.”
Germany needs to secure gas from as many sources as possible but it would be negligent to rely on enough gas always arriving by LNG tanker, added Botzenhardt: "Investments in pipelines are also strategic decisions... Europe needs Nord Stream 2."
It’s unusual for a gas grid company to make such a naked appeal to a major gas producer such as Gazprom, and it may alarm EU officials who want to further diversify the continent’s gas supplies and who like gas grids to work alongside all gas suppliers.
Axel Botzenhardt, since 2011 CEO of Thyssengas, worked from 2001-11 for Shell
One possible explanation is that Thyssengas is trying to outline a business strategy for its new owners. Australian bank Macquarie agreed in June to sell the company to a partnership of Dutch fund DIF and EDF.
Thyssengas is one of six German gas grids that jointly run the existing, successful NCG virtual gas trading hub. A rival and nearly as successful German gas hub, Gaspool, is jointly run by five other German gas grids – including BASF/Gazprom joint venture Gascade and Gasunie Deutschland, both existing partners of Gazprom. Neither NCG nor Gaspool has achieved the liquidity of the Gasunie-managed Dutch trading hub TTF.
BASF-owned Wintershall said earlier this week argued that Russian gas through Nord Stream 2 would be needed by 2022 to avert an energy crisis in southern Germany. Dutch state-owned Gasunie is among the equity partners in the Gazprom-led 55bn m³/yr Nord Stream 1 pipeline venture, but not in the equal-sized NS2 project.
Mark Smedley