Sines can contribute to European energy autonomy

  • Lusa
  • 20 May 2022

António Costa conveyed this position on the European Union's energy strategy in Warsaw during a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, said in Warsaw on Friday that Portugal was able to contribute to Europe’s energy autonomy, freeing it from the current dependence on Russian gas through the supply of gas and hydrogen.

António Costa conveyed this position on the European Union’s energy strategy in Warsaw during a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki.

Right at the beginning of the press conference, Mateusz Morawiecki rejected the idea of European Union member states continuing to buy gas and oil from Russia, and António Costa then praised this effort that the Warsaw government was making to ensure its energy autonomy.

“Portugal has long been an advocate of the urgency of ensuring the energy transition based on renewables. We have the conditions to make a lasting contribution to Europe’s energy autonomy,” he said before mentioning the potential of the port of Sines to supply gas and hydrogen.

The prime minister noted that the issue of energy was one of the main points under consideration in the talks he held this morning with his Polish counterpart.

Specifically, the two prime ministers considered that the idea of energy supplies to Eastern European countries from the port of Sines was a viable solution, with the leader of the Polish government highlighting the logistical capacity of his country’s port terminals in terms of reception and unloading.

On this point, he classified as a priority the investment in interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, not only to supply natural gas from the United States and Nigeria but also, in the future, for the national capacity to produce green hydrogen, “at low cost, benefiting from the facility in solar energy production.”

“We need immediate answers: We are discussing with the Polish government and other European governments the possibility of using the port of Sines as a transfer platform from large methane carriers to other medium and small vessels. These smaller ships will have better conditions to operate in the more congested areas of the North Sea and the Baltic,” the Portuguese prime minister added.

António Costa then expressed “full support” for the Polish government’s efforts to ensure its energy autonomy and for the energy transition “to a more sustainable world”.