Rhone pipeline outage to limit French LNG imports this winter
- Key Rhone pipeline out of action for the winter
- Outage to reduce France's LNG import capacity
- Outage comes as LNG terminals also disrupted by strikes
France's LNG import capacity will be restricted this winter by a pipeline outage on the Rhone link, operator NaTran said on Wednesday, limiting the country's energy flexibility as Europe prepares for more supplies of the super-chilled gas.
The outage could reduce total supplies by about 43.5 terawatt hours over the winter, equivalent to around 11 days of France’s total winter gas demand.
"Transit on the Rhone artery has been interrupted until at least the end of the coming winter following an incident on the network on 26 September," a NaTran spokesperson said. The company did not give details of the incident.
Strikes also disrupting LNG flows. With a capacity of 160 gigawatt hours per day, the pipeline allows gas converted from LNG at Fos-sur-mer's two terminals to enter the transmission network and be moved around France.
The incident comes on top of ongoing strikes at the Fos-sur-mer and Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminals over pay.
The strikes have disrupted cargoes to the terminals, operated by Elengy, over the last six weeks, with flows from Fos Cavaou resuming on September 28 after a request from NaTran to Elengy to avert supply risks, said S&P analyst Diane Elijah.
Combined flows from the Fos Cavaou and Fos Tonkin terminals fell month-on-month, but that was more than offset by higher flows from terminals at Dunkirk and Montoir, she said. Deliveries at Montoir have continued during the disruption.
The strike at Fos is scheduled to end on Wednesday, with flows expected to resume Thursday, while Montoir's stoppage is set to end Thursday.
"The end of strike actions at Montoir and Fos is expected to bring more predictability as the market moves deeper into the winter season," said LSEG analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv.
However, a meeting will be held on Thursday to decide whether the strikes will continue, a union representative at the Elengy terminals said.
Even if the disputes are resolved, the Rhone pipeline outage will restrict Fos' flows for months, curbing France's regasification potential, Onyshkiv said.
A market message from EU gas network operator ENTSOG on October 6 indicated that flows through the impacted entry point would be capped at around 239 GWh per day – roughly half of Fos's technical capacity.
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