OUR France reopens a disused pipeline near the Moselle, which was originally built to natural gas from east to west to send natural gas to Germanybased on an energy agreement presented by the President of France Emmanuel Macron.

France will be able to supply 130 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day, a tiny fraction of Germany’s needs, according to French energy officials. Germany, for its part, will provide electricity to France in the event that supplies are limited in the middle of winter.

“Macron is under pressure because of the electricity situation in France. So the message that Germany and France are supporting each other is very important,” a German official told Reuters. “We do not expect France to solve our gas problem. But any possible gas supply is a signal to the markets that we will survive the winter,” he added.

By reopening the gas pipeline, France will be able to send up to 20 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas from its reserves to Germany in winter – an amount equivalent to about 2% of the needs of Europe’s largest economy.

Before the war in Ukraine and the cut off of supplies to Russia, gas used to flow from east to west. France is already supplying gas to Germany, usually via Belgium or Switzerland. This will be the first time that gas will also start flowing through the Moselle link.

“Germany needs our natural gas, and we need electricity from the rest of Europe, especially from Germany,” President Macron said yesterday after talking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}