Annual Report

The geopolitical situation has profoundly changed the dynamics of gas markets and the direction of flows in Europe. The Interconnector pipeline, the flows from Norway and the LNG terminals in Zeebrugge and Dunkirk ensured maximum supply to the Belgian grid. Accordingly, as well as supplying Belgium, suppliers managed to get unprecedented quantities of natural gas to the Netherlands and Germany. The Transitgas pipeline in Switzerland also helped supply Germany. And in Southern Europe, the TAP pipeline and DESFA in Greece were hard at work to ensure needed additional flows.

Achieving climate neutrality will require flows of hydrogen and CO₂. Together with industry, our partners and neighbouring operators, we have accelerated our pursuit of this objective. In Belgium, pipeline and terminalling projects for hydrogen and CO₂ are well underway in a range of industrial clusters, and in Germany, there are also various collaborative projects involving hydrogen and CO₂ infrastructure. The TAP pipeline and DESFA in Greece are also preparing to facilitate hydrogen transport.

Given the new supply situation in Europe, speed and adaptability are the watchwords for new infrastructure as well. We prepared thoroughly for the first phase in the construction of the Zeebrugge-Opwijk pipeline, comprising the section between Desteldonk and Opwijk. This will boost our capacity to carry natural gas inland from Zeebrugge. At the same time, the pipeline is an initial step towards speeding up the energy transition as it will be immediately available for hydrogen transport as soon as the market is ready.

Together with institutional investor EIG, Fluxys became an 80% partner in GNL Quintero, the largest LNG import terminal in Chile. The energy transition is high on the agenda in Chile, with ambitious targets for producing green hydrogen from the abundant energy from sun and wind. The Quintero LNG terminal is a key factor in security of supply in central Chile and its infrastructure supports the country's decarbonisation strategy by promoting the improving market for renewables and the coal phase-out.

Keeping up the good work and tapping into our innovative side to help build a climate-neutral society. That is the message of our multimedia campaign in which we enthusiastically pursued our search for talent. The results of this speak for themselves, with nearly 150 new colleagues joining our team. Settling in quickly makes all the difference. That's why we provide a warm welcome as part of an innovative onboarding programme.

Our commitment: to be a climate-neutral company by 2035. The first milestone is to halve our greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025, compared with 2017. In 2022, we reached that milestone for methane emissions in our transmission and storage businesses. In our LNG business, three additional open-rack vaporisers currently under construction will reduce the Zeebrugge terminal’s emissions.

At the Belgian-German energy summit in Zeebrugge in early 2023, the two countries agreed to further increase energy cooperation. Key element in that cooperation is to ensure a pipeline corridor to facilitate hydrogen transport between Belgium and Germany.

In March 2023, Fluxys became a 24% partner in Open Grid Europe (OGE), the largest transmission system operator in Germany. This acquisition dovetails perfectly with Fluxys' strategy to become the essential infrastructure partner for speeding up the energy transition. Fluxys Belgium and OGE are both pioneers in decarbonisation solutions and are working together to have cross-border hydrogen infrastructure ready by 2028. For CO₂ the two companies are joining forces to create, by 2030, a backbone for transporting CO₂ from Germany via Belgium to permanent offshore storage.