Newspaper: Energy companies ask British to deal with polluted gas

British business newspaper the Financial Times reports that European energy companies are calling on the United Kingdom to urgently tackle pollution from gas it sends to mainland Europe. Gas supplied by pipelines to Belgium and the Netherlands contains “toxic” and “dangerous” substances, and the pollution has increased recently, according to gas suppliers.

Companies sounding the alarm include Belgium’s Fluxis, France’s Électrique de France and Securing Energy for Europe. The latter company was formerly known as Gazprom Germania and was acquired by Germany. They argue that removing pollution causes problems such as delays in gas supplies in Europe and high costs. This year alone, companies had to spend 320 million euros to clean up the gas.

Europe currently receives liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from the United Kingdom. This gas arrives from countries such as the US and Qatar to various British ports, where it is reheated until it has a gaseous form. It travels via the British Gas Pipeline Network to Bacton in the UK and subsea pipelines between the Netherlands and Belgium. With that gas, Europe is no longer dependent on Russian gas.

British network operator National Grid wants to further increase the amount of gas transported to Europe. European countries can fill their stocks before winter sets in and the pressure on the British gas network will ease again in winter. The manager says that it is logical that due to the additional gas supply, there is more pollution and more maintenance is required.