After a visit to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Sines, Sanches recalled that his first public speech on taking office was precisely on this topic.
“The deep-water port, which is indeed the westernmost port in Europe, has great potential, if we invest in infrastructure, for us to be able to export to other countries”, the secretary of state told Lusa News Agency.
“That makes every sense”, he reiterated, arguing that the terminal - which is managed by Redes Energéticas de Nacionais (REN), Portugal’s privatised energy grids operator, could thus “come to provide [energy] security to other countries” in Europe.
For that to happen, there is a need to create gas “interconnections” between European Union countries - as the Portuguese government has long argued - Sanches pointed out.
He recalled that the EU is discussing “a very important legislative package on energy”, which the government backs.
Sanches was accompanying his German counterpart, Rainer Baake, on the visit to the port, as part of the government’s efforts to convince its EU counterparts that the LNG terminal “can offer supply security to other countries.”