The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's competition authority, has assessed two proposed CO2 pipeline projects involving Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE) and concluded that there are no serious competition concerns. OGE, which operates the largest gas transmission system in western Germany, is collaborating with ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH and the Belgian company Fluxys S.A. to construct new pipelines aimed at transporting captured CO2 for long-term storage.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, stated that even without the cooperation, it is unlikely that the involved companies would pursue competing projects in the near future. However, he emphasized that the companies must adhere to competition law principles during their collaboration, as they are competitors in other sectors.

The planned pipelines are part of a broader initiative to capture and store CO2 emissions from industrial processes, particularly in waste incineration and cement production. The pipelines will connect high-emission regions to offshore storage sites in the North Sea and under the Danish mainland, necessitating the construction of new infrastructure alongside existing natural gas pipelines.

For the OGE-ONTRAS project, the companies will build an export pipeline linking high-emission industries to export locations, with each responsible for different sections. In the OGE-Fluxys project, OGE will connect western and southern Germany to the German-Belgian border, where Fluxys will extend the pipeline through Belgium to Zeebrugge.

As the projects are still in early development stages, the Bundeskartellamt noted that the rapidly evolving CO2 transport market may require future reassessments. If demand for CO2 transport services increases significantly, competing projects could emerge, necessitating closer scrutiny under competition law.