The German government has agreed to join a project, renamed H2Med, aimed at building an hydrogen pipeline between Portugal, Spain, France and now Germany. In October 2022, France, Spain and Portugal agreed to develop and build a €2.5bn underwater pipeline, which will carry natural gas and hydrogen between Barcelona (eastern Spain) and Marseille (southern France). The new BarMar route will be used to pump green hydrogen and other renewable gases but will also temporarily transport natural gas to help tackle Europe's current energy crisis. The project is expected to take 4 to 5 years to complete and could supply some 2 MtH2/year.
The BarMar project will substitute itself to the extension plans for the MidCat pipeline (7.5 bcm/year) across the Pyrenees. Spain and Portugal were in favour of the project, while France opposed it, arguing that the pipeline would take too long to build to resolve short-term supply issues. Spain and Portugal have also agreed to complete a renewable gas pipe which will link Zamora (central Spain) and Celourico da Beira (northern Portugal).
Spain is connected to France through the Lacal gas interconnection (import capacity of 5.2 bcm/year and export of 7 bcm/year) and to Portugal (import capacity of 2.5 bcm/year and export of 4.4 bcm/year).