• The energy infrastructure represents an investment of €41.2 Mn, completing the connections of the Basque network of gas pipelines
• It runs along 53 kilometres, linking the la BBG plant with the Burgos-Santander-Asturias Enagás gas pipeline
• Classed as priority energy infrastructure, it completes the ring of the basic network of gas pipelines on the Bay of Biscay coastline
Enagás Transporte del Norte, a company in which Enagás and Ente Vasco de la Energía have stakes, has inaugurated the new gas transport infrastructure which links the Bilbao regasification plant (BBG) with the network of gas pipelines in the region of Cantabria.
The inauguration, with the symbolic opening of the natural gas supply valves, was attended by officials and guests at the so-called Position 1 of the gas pipeline, the starting point of the infrastructure located in Zierbena where the connection valves are located. In this setting, the ceremony was presided over by the President of the Basque region Iñigo Urkullu along with the President of Cantabria, Ignacio Diego, and the Chairman of Enagás, Antonio Llardén. The leaders of the municipalities involved and of the companies which participated in the construction works also took part in the ceremony.
The new gas pipeline, which directly links the BBG regasification plant with the Cantabrian municipality of Treto, is priority gas transport infrastructure within the gas transport network of the Bay of Biscay coastline since it closes the ring of the basic gas pipeline network, and with this project completes all of the network's interconnections in the Basque Country. Basque leader Urkullu stressed how this new infrastructure would give the Basque Country more energy security, a very important issue for the competitiveness of industry and the well-being of citizens in general. Ignacio Diego, President of Cantabria, said that the Bilbao-Treto connection represents the full integration of Cantabria into an improved Spanish gas network, making it an important day in the energy development of the two communities.
The gas pipeline required investments amounting to €41.2 Mn. The infrastructure is the property of Enagás Transporte del Norte, S.L., a company in which Enagás has a 90% stake, and the Basque government, through Ente Vasco de la Energía, 10%. Antonio Llardén, Chairman of Enagás, highlighted the pipeline's key role in strengthening the supply of gas on the Bay of Biscay coastline.
The opening of this pipeline strengthens and guarantees the supply of gas for the whole region of Cantabria, interconnecting the various existing regasification plants and, at the same time, consolidating the BBG regasifier as the main entry point for gas from the Atlantic Arc and strengthening its leadership as one of the country's most used plants.
