A top-down approach to identify the most important natural gas cross-border infrastructure projects

Well-conceived infrastructure development is the key to a fully integrated gas market as depicted in the Energy Union Package. Physical interconnection is the hardware that enables security of supply, which has become a particularly high priority issue, especially in the new Member States. The Energy Union package provides financial tools to accelerate the implementation of key PCI projects. Yet, at the same time, gas demand is declining in most European countries, and energy efficiency policies might even accelerate this process. The aim of this paper is to identify the most important missing natural gas interconnections under varying market circumstances.