Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting Norway and Canada this week to explore alternatives to Russian gas. His hopes are also focused on the revival of the gas pipeline project between Spain and France and on gas from the eastern Mediterranean, Les Echos reports, as quoted by Rador.

Smiling in the fog, the German chancellor showed himself on Monday on the bow of a ship near the city of Oslo on the occasion of an official visit to Norway.

Olaf Scholz continues to search for new sources of supply to compensate for the cessation of Russian gas supplies. The pressure reached its maximum. Due to gas shortages, the price of electricity for next year in Germany on Tuesday exceeded the threshold of 500 euros per megawatt-hour for the first time, an increase of about 500% year-on-year.

However, in Oslo, Olaf Scholz received a polite refusal from the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gar Støre. “We have already increased gas exports by almost 10%, and this is really the maximum,” he explained after the meeting.

In 2021, Norway delivered 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe, almost half of which to Germany. It is already ahead of Russia in supplying the Germans, providing them with 30% of consumption. It will have to wait until 2024 and 2025 to develop new fields and increase supplies.

After Norway, Olaf Scholz will go to Canada next Sunday, accompanied by Minister of Economy Robert Habek. The goal is to purchase liquefied natural gas to supply the new import terminals being built in the Baltic Sea. Germany and Canada are also preparing a partnership for the production of so-called “green” hydrogen, starting with renewable energy sources, within two to three years.

Restart the Midi-Catalonia gas pipeline

Germany’s hopes are also turned to the South. At a summer press conference a week ago, the chancellor pulled out of the boxes the Midi-Catalonia (MidCat) gas pipeline project, which will connect Barcelona to Carcassonne through the Pyrenees. The project, supported by the European Commission, has been ongoing since 2019.

It should deliver Algerian gas to the north of Europe, as well as LNG, which will come to the Iberian Peninsula from the United States and Nigeria. Olaf Scholz hopes that this pipeline will make “a big contribution to easing and relaxing the supply situation”.

While Spain and Portugal support Germany in this, France is holding back due to the more than €440 billion construction costs and the time required to bring the pipeline into operation.

Greek and Cypriot deposits

In a historic twist, 15 years after the financial crisis that strained relations between Germany and Greece, Berlin may also turn to Athens for help.

According to studies conducted in 2017 and 2018, almost 280 million cubic meters of gas will be located off Crete, which is 50 times the current consumption of Greece.

Fields allocated to a consortium of TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum, considered too expensive from a financial and environmental point of view, are once again attracting attention.

Geopolitical issues

However, even here, the first gas molecules will not be produced until 2025 or 2026. The horizon is even more distant, as their transport creates geopolitical problems, crossing disputed maritime areas between Greece and Turkey.

The geopolitical issue is also important for the development of 510 billion cubic meters of gas discovered in Cyprus, which is five times the consumption of Germany.

Until now, Turkey opposed the construction of the East Med gas pipeline, which would connect Cyprus and Israel with Greece and Italy. Without being able to count on Scandinavian or Mediterranean gas until 2023 or 2024, Germany is bracing for a tough winter.