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Natural Gas Pipelines in Germany
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By OilGasArticles Editor
Published on 03/17/2006
 
Germany’s domestic natural gas transmission network facilitates the movement of natural gas from import terminals to its interior consumption centers. Wingas operates the 440-mile Mitte-Deutschland-Anbindungs-Leitung (MIDAL) system, which runs the length of the entire country and connects the North Sea coast with Kahrlsruhe.
Domestic pipelines

Germany’s domestic natural gas transmission network facilitates the movement of natural gas from import terminals to its interior consumption centers. Wingas operates the 440-mile Mitte-Deutschland-Anbindungs-Leitung (MIDAL) system, which runs the length of the entire country and connects the North Sea coast with Kahrlsruhe.

With a capacity of 1.2 Bcf per day (Bcf/d), MIDAL allows Germany to import natural gas from Norway through receiving terminals in Emden and Dornum. Also linking the North Sea coast with the interior is the Norddeutsche Erdgas Transversale (NETRA), a 210-mile, 2.1 Bcf/d system operated by a consortium led by E.ON Ruhrgas. NETRA links the Emden and Dornum receiving terminals with eastern Germany.

There are two important spur lines off MIDAL. Wingas and E.ON jointly operate the 80-mile Rehden-Hamburg Gas pipeline (RHG), which connects Hamburg to the MIDAL system. Second, Wingas operates the 200-mile WEDAL system that links the MIDAL pipeline with the Belgian border near Aachen.

Wingas operates the Jamal-Gas-Anbindungs-Leitung (JAGAL) pipeline system, which brings Russian natural gas into eastern Germany via Poland. The 70-mile JAGAL I connects Mallnow, on the Polish border, to Baruth, south of Berlin. JAGAL II extends 140 miles from Baruth to Rueckersdorf, in the state of Thueringen. Overall system capacity of JAGAL is 2.3 Bcf/d.
 
International pipelines
Due to its central location in Europe, Germany is an important transit center for natural gas imports from Russia and the North Sea. The 200-mile, 1.2-Bcf/d Sachsen-Thueringen-Erdgasleitung (STEGAL) extends from St. Katharinen, Czech Republic to Reckrod, where it connects to the MIDAL system. STEGAL allows Germany to import natural gas from Russia via the Czech and Slovak natural gas transmission systems. It is also possible for STEGAL to operate in reverse flow mode, facilitating the transmission of North Sea natural gas to the Czech Republic and Slovakia instead.

E.ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France (GdF) jointly own the 2.1-Bcf/d Mittel-Europaeische-Gasleitung (MEGAL) system, which has two parts. MEGAL-Nord is a 290-mile pipeline linking the Czech Republic and France via Waidhaus, on the Czech-German border, and Medelsheim, on the French-German border. MEGAL-Sud extends 100 miles from Oberkappel, on the German-Austrian border, to Schwandorf, where it connects to MEGAL-Nord. Besides facilitating the transportation of natural gas from Russia to France, the MEGAL system also has several interconnections with Germany’s domestic gas transport network.

The Trans-European Natural Gas Pipeline (TENP), a joint venture of E.ON Ruhrgas and Italy’s Sname Rete, runs 600 miles from the German-Dutch border to Italy. This system also supports a reverse flow operation, so it would be possible to also use the TENP to transport Algerian or Libyan natural gas from Italy to Germany.
 
Source: Energy Information Administration