European companies have asked their British counterparts to clean up the gas they supply to the continent, as concentrations of dangerous and poisonous impurities have been found in it.
The Financial Times writes about it.
It is said that the problem has already led to emergency repairs to the gas pipeline between the UK and Europe and could lead to more serious problems in winter. Great Britain exports gas to the continent through the Interconnector pipeline to Belgium and the BBL pipeline to the Netherlands. According to Fluxys, the operator of the gas pipeline to Belgium, the gas flow is "constantly contaminated with solid and liquid impurities", due to which it had to stop twice this year for repairs. Solid impurities or dust contain dangerous, poisonous, radioactive and self-igniting substances.
Since April, the concentration of dust in the gas coming from Great Britain has reached "unprecedented values", the publication writes. Operators have had to spend more than £270m on clean-up this year. Companies fear that increased pumping could exacerbate the problem and increase the risk of supply disruptions.
For its part, British supplier National Grid said the presence of dust was a "historical and known problem which is continuously monitored".
- EU countries have agreed on an emergency plan to reduce gas consumption by 15%. It is designed to reduce the use of Russian gas.