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South-North Corridor GRIP 2017
Image courtesy of Fluxys
8.1.1.2 Milestones
BeLux market integration, a first in Europe
On 1st October 2015, Fluxys Belgium and Creos Luxembourg successfully launched
the first ever gas market integration between two European Union Member States,
namely Luxembourg and Belgium. This market integration is fully in line with the
European Union’s blueprint that aims at building an internal gas market without
borders, where gas can flow freely from one country to another. The successful
merging of the Luxembourg and Belgian gas markets is the result of around two
years of close collaboration between Creos Luxembourg, Fluxys Belgium and their
respective regulators, the Luxembourg Regulatory Authority (ILR) and Belgium’s
Regulatory Commission for Electricity and Gas (CREG).
The merging of the markets opens up more opportunities for competition for the two
countries and boosts security of supply for Luxembourg. The integrated market is
beneficial for suppliers too, as there is now only one balancing zone for the two
countries and liquidity on the ZTP gas trading point is boosted. With the removal of
the Bras/Pétange interconnection point from the commercial offer, grid users no
longer have to reserve capacity at that point to transmit gas between Belgium and
Luxembourg.
Alveringem-Maldegem, the Dunkirk–Zeebrugge link
In parallel with the construction of the LNG terminal at Dunkirk, a pipeline has been
laid to link this new installation to the Zeebrugge area. The pipeline connects three
infrastructures: the Dunkirk LNG terminal as a new gas entry point for Europe, the
grid of French system operator GRTgaz and the Fluxys grid in Belgium. GRTgaz has
laid a 26-km long pipeline from the compressor station in Pitgam to the French-Bel-
gian border. Fluxys Belgium has built a new interconnection point in Alveringem
near Veurne, and a 72-km long pipeline between Alveringem and Maldegem.
The new installations of the two system operators were commissioned in late 2015.
This combination allows the transport of up to an additional 8bcm of natural gas to
Belgium and elsewhere in Europe from the Dunkirk LNG terminal, strengthening se-
curity of supply, market integration and diversification of sources while offering a
wider basis for natural gas trading in the North-West Region. The project gives sys-
tem users maximum flexibility in choosing the destination for their natural gas flows,
as by using the Belgian system they can move their gas flows to a wide range of des-
tinations. Besides, it renders the Belgian grid completely bidirectional.