European energy companies have asked the United Kingdom to tackle pollution from gas urgently it sends to mainland Europe, reports the British business newspaper Financial Times.

The companies that sound the alarm include the Belgian Fluxys, the French Electricité de France, and Securing Energy for Europe. The latter company was previously called Gazprom Germania and has been taken over by Germany. They argue that removing the pollution causes problems such as delays in the supply of gas in Europe and more costs. The companies had to spend 320 million euros this year to clean the gas.

Europe currently receives a lot of liquefied natural gas or LNG from the United Kingdom. This gas arrives in various British ports from countries such as the United States and Qatar, where it is then heated again until it has a gaseous form.

It then goes via the British gas pipeline network to the undersea pipelines between Bacton in England, the Netherlands, and Belgium. With that gas, Europe is trying to become less dependent on Russian gas.

The British network operator National Grid wants to increase further the amount of gas transported to Europe. Then European countries can replenish their stocks before the winter starts, and the pressure on the British gas network decreases again during winter. Due to the extra supply of gas, it is only logical that there is more pollution and more maintenance is required, says the manager.