Chemical Parks in Europe
Facts and figures provided by ECSPP

ECSPP promotes new investments in Europe's integrated, innovative and competitive chemical industrial clusters and complexes.

About us
Member sign in
Not a member?

Pipeline Networks

  • just a snapshot from the download below
  • Rotterdam refineries distribute their products mainly via pipelines to chemical sites located in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The 495 km Äthylen Rohrleitungsgesellschaft (ARG) pipeline transports ethylene between producers and consumers at petrochemical sites in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
  • Propylene pipelines connect important chemical sites in the Netherlands (Rotterdam, Moerdijk) and Belgium (Antwerp, Feluy, Geel, Beringen, Terneuzen). Dow operates its own propylene pipeline from Rotterdam to Woensdrecht, near Terneuzen. In Northwest Germany, there is only one propylene pipeline connecting Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Marl (not correctly shown on the map).
  • In the Rhine-Ruhr area Air Liquide and Praxair (southern part of system) operate the 240 km hydrogen network shown in the map below and a 500 km pipeline system for the transport of oxygen and nitrogen.
  • The Rhine waterway is another link between Northwest Germany and the Netherlands, transporting both feedstock and finished products.
  • In July 2006 BBL company started the work on the construction of a 230-kilometre undersea gas pipeline which will link the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This pipeline has been given the name BBL (Balgzand Bacton Line) and is being built by N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie under the authority of BBL Company. BBL Company is a partnership of three subsidiaries of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, E.ON Ruhrgas and Fluxys. The gas flow direction is from the Netherlands to the UK.
  • As France is an oil importing country with only minor oil production in the basin of Paris and in Aquitaine, the port of Le Havre is especially important as a transit point for crude oil and natural gas. The pipeline Le Havre-Grandpuits transports crude oil from Le Havre via Gargenville to a Total refinery in Grandpuits, south of Paris. The Antifer-Le Havre pipeline connects the oil fields in Aquitaine to Le Havre.
  • Polimeri Europa operates two ethylene pipelines on the Sicilian territory allowing ethylene to be transferred from the Priolo site to the Ragusa and Gela sites. Polimeri Europa also interconnected its sites in the North East of Italy: Ethylene supply from the naphtha cracker to Mantua and Ravena via Ferrara is secured by the naphtha cracker on the Porto Marghera site. Only the Ferrara site is also linked to the cracker by a propylene pipeline. Ferrara supplies Ravena with ammonia.
  • Spain imports natural gas through two international pipelines. The Trans-Pyrenean pipeline, linking Calahorra, Spain to Lacq, France, began operations in 1993. This pipeline has a capacity of 330 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d), allowing Spain to import natural gas from Norway via France. The second import pipeline is the 1,000-mile, 820-Mmcf/d MaghrebEurope Gas (MEG, also called Pedro Duran Farell). MEG, completed in 1996, connects Algeria's Hassi R'mel gas field with Cordoba, Spain, via Morocco. In August 2001, Algeria's Sonatrach, part owner of MEG, awarded ABB a $93 million contract to build a natural gas compressor station on MEG in order to increase the line's capacity to 1.78 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2006.
  • In October 2003, Portugal completed its first LNG terminal in Sines, with an output capacity of 530 Mmcf/d of natural gas. The Sines terminal, operated by Galp Energia subsidiary Galp Atlantico, allows Portugal to seek greater independence of its natural gas supply, which at present is dependent on Spain's natural gas network to process and transport natural gas to the country. There are no significant interconnections between chemical sites on the Iberian Peninsula. However, the coastal location facilitates the transport of feedstock and products by waterway.
  • The Netherlands – although partly producing themselves - import large quantities of oil and natural gas from Russia, Saudi-Arabia, the UK, Norway and Kuwait. One half of the crude oil is refined in the Rotterdam area while the other half is distributed via the extensive pipeline system. The Rotterdam-Ruhr Pipeline (RRP) provides a link to refineries in Venlo, Wesel, Gelsenkirchen, Godorf and Wesseling. In addition, Rotterdam is connected to Vlissingen, another Dutch sea port, and to Antwerp, Belgium, via the Rotterdam-Antwerp Pipeline (RAPL).
← →

This document provides an overview of the pipeline networks and infrastructure within the oil, gas, petrochemical and chemical industries across Europe.

Downloads

  • European Pipeline Infrastructure Networks (pdf - 1.75 MB)
    The information set out in this download contains material reproduced with permission from members and/or is compiled from member contributions and third party sources. It is provided for general research and information purposes and as such is not intend to be accurate or complete statement as to all available pipeline and pipeline infrastructure across the European region. The information must not therefore, be relied upon for commercial use (for example to make business and investment decisions). Furthermore, to the fullest extent permissible by law, ECSPP shall have no liability to any third party based on its provision of the information in this download.