Portuguese Prime Minister Says EU Eyeing New Gas Pipeline Bypassing France

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - European authorities have been mulling plans to build a new gas pipeline connecting the Iberian Peninsula and Central Europe bypassing France, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said.

On Friday, Costa said that the European Commission considered it possible to construct an alternative gas route between Central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula, Portuguese online newspaper Observador reported.

The prime minister reportedly said that the original plan, which presupposed a pipeline via France, failed due to environmental concerns of the French government. The potential pipeline bypassing France would link Portugal and Spain with Italy and run under the Mediterranean Sea.

In late July, Spanish radio broadcaster Cadena SER cited sources in the republic's Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge as saying that Madrid was considering offering to export gas to Europe via two pipelines across the Pyrenees, as well as using its gas system to avoid consumption cuts.

The EU has been facing an unprecedented energy crisis in recent months, with gas prices soaring to historic high amid low levels in underground storages after last year's cold winter and hot summer as well as due to Western sanctions against Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine.