Gas at a Crossroads WHY THE EU SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO EXPAND ITS GAS INFRASTRUCTURE

Global Energy Monitor (GEM) has completed the first comprehensive project-level survey of proposed
natural gas infrastructure across the European Union (EU), including gas-fired power plants, liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals, and gas pipelines.

According to GEM’s survey, companies are already building or are proposing to build gas infrastructure that would add 233 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year to the EU’s import capacity, with 138 bcm per
year from pipelines and 95 bcm per year from LNG import terminals. Of that, 75 bcm per year of pipeline
capacity and 9 bcm per year of LNG import capacity are now under construction.

Building all the gas infrastructure currently in preconstruction or construction would add more than 30% to the EU’s current gas import capacity of 707 bcm per year. The EU already has large excess gas infrastructure. The EU gas import capacity is nearly twice as high as EU gas consumption (see page 9). EU gas-fired power plants also generate only about one-third the electricity that they could (see page 15).

GEM’s survey finds that €99 billion in new EU gas projects is in development, including €52 billion for gas pipelines, €12 billion for LNG import terminals, and €35 billion for gas-fired power stations. Table 1 and Figure 1 provide a breakdown of the developmental pipeline by country.

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