Gas Trap

Data and Methodology for Gas Investments

By Investigate Europe
Alexia Barakou

In this article, we outline the methodology and data sources that were used in the compilation of the Gas Investments per Capita map.

Overview

The total investment planned or under construction is 104.5 billion Euros. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Pipelines: 52.2 billion Euros
  • Gas power plants: 35.4 billion Euros
  • LNG terminals: 16.9 billion Euros

Gas power plants

In Europe (EEA + UK), gas power plants are currently operating with a joint capacity of 182.8 Giga Watts (GW) of electricity. The currently planned and proposed plants have a joint capacity of 40.6 GW. This would be an addition of 22.2%.

LNG Terminals

In Europe (EEA + UK), LNG terminals are currently operating with a joint capacity of 212.7 billion cubic metres per year of gas imports. The currently planned and proposed plants have a joint capacity of 116 billion cubic metres per year. This would be an addition of 54.5%.

Pipelines

We do not have reliable data on the amount of existing pipelines. However, we do have the total length of proposed pipelines within EEA + UK: 12,844 km, worth an investment of 52.2 billion Euros.

Gas exploration and extraction

There are new projects underway. The one project currently under construction is the Dvalin Gas Field, which is expected to start projection still this year.

Investments in Euro     
New gas infrastructure projects planned or in construction.     
Countrysum (million Euro)pipelines (million Euro)gas power plants (million Euro)LNG terminals (million Euro)investments per capita (in Euro)
Austria5035030058
Belgium00000
Bulgaria1559155900218
Croatia25261628675223603
Czechia6886880065
Denmark2552255200447
Estonia37802598011822873
Finland1831830033
France25810626195539
Germany13971447257333766170
Greece12576894831065221166
Hungary13835558280141
Ireland2367106452216501
Italy10357365552471455171
Latvia13679390428694
Lithuania2582580089
Malta17617600391
Netherlands7270072743
Poland11761664639491165310
Portugal5595590054
Romania10758952912280544
Slovakia2722720050
Slovenia202219071150979
Spain238612580112851
Sweden170215570145173
United Kingdom156400138481792239
Cyprus1829162402052157
Norway00000

Methodology

Pipeline data: all pipeline data relating to length and costs was taken from Global Energy Monitor (GEM)

LNG Terminal data: Industry associations’ data was used for existing, under-construction and planned terminals. We applied average costs per capacity per industry standard, with different costs for floating and land-based terminals.

Gas Power Plant data: We took GEM data and multiplied it with industry standard averages for installed capacity, depending on whether the plant in question uses combined cycle or open cycle technology.

Exploration and Extraction: Unfortunately no detailed quantitative data was available.

Sources

  • Pipeline data (length and costs for planned and under-construction pipelines): Global Energy Monitor (NGO) report: ‘Gas at a Crossroads’ (pp 4, 11, 12).
  • LNG Terminal capacity (existing and planned): Gas Infrastructure Europe version October 2019 (most up-to-date information available as of October 2020).
  • LNG Terminal costs: International Gas Union ‘World LNG Report’  (pp. 53- 54). (Giving 129 USD per tonne per year (floating), 274 USD per tonne per year (land-based)). No comparable mention is made in the 2019 and 2020 reports. Inspired by Europe Gas Report Methodology Notes.
  • Gas Power Plants (existing and planned capacity): Global Energy Monitor updated data per private communication from August 2020.
  • Gas Power Plants costs: IEA World Energy Outlook 2019, 2017: Combined cycle: 1 million USD per MW capacity; based on IEA World Energy Outlook 2019. Open cycle: 500 000 USD per MW capacity; based on IEA World Energy Outlook 2017, because that was the most recent edition of that report that cited a cost for open-cycle gas power plants
  • Assumed exchange value of the US Dollar: $1 = €0.9.

If you would like to use the map, here is the embed code to use. Please also link our investigation on the Gas Trap.

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The production of this investigation was supported by a grant from the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund.

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