Belgium Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in belgium, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Energy: Natural Gas and LNG
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Overview 

Belgium’s Natural Gas and LNG sectors offer significant opportunities for US companies looking into expanding or entering the Belgian market. Key areas of focus include additional LNG slots and equipment and services supplies. 

Belgium has made progress in increasing competition in its electricity and natural gas markets. It has reduced the use of fossil fuels and increased the share of renewable energy. The country’s economy is also becoming less energy intensive.  Its National Energy and Climate Plan sets a 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector by 35 percent from 2005 levels, to reach 17.5 percent renewables in gross final energy consumption, and significantly reduce energy demand. Belgium has made progress on these goals. Coal-fired generation was phased out in 2016 and Belgium is a global leader in offshore wind, with 2.26 GW in 2024 expected to increase to 5.8 GW by 2030. That said, Belgium remains reliant on fossil fuels and is facing energy security challenges.  

Key Players in the Belgian Natural Gas and LNG Sector

•    Ministry of Energy: the Belgian federal government is responsible for nuclear power plants, energy supplies and offshore wind turbines. The regions of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia are responsible for wind energy on land, solar energy, distribution of gas and electricity at lower voltage. 
•    Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA): advises and supports public services on public procurement.
•    Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation (CREG): the Belgian Federal Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation. It is an autonomous organisation granted legal personality, set up by the Electricity and Gas Laws.
•    VREG: the Flemish Regulator, the Flemish Regulator of the Electricity and Gas market. 
•    Walloon Energy Commission (CWaPE): the Walloon regulator.
•    Brussels Gas Electricity (BRUGEL): the Brussels regulator.
•    Engie Electrabel: the main utility and electricity producer in Belgium.
•    EDF: the second-largest utility and electricity producer in Belgium.
•    Luminus: the third-largest utility and electricity producer in Belgium.
•    Elia: Belgium’s Transmission Systems Operator for high-voltage electricity
•    Fluxys: Belgium’s Transmission Systems Operator for gas and operator of the Zeebrugge LNG Terminal

Sub-sector Best Prospects

With no domestic natural gas production, Belgium imports natural gas via cross-border pipelines, subsea pipelines, and Belgium’s only LNG terminal located in Zeebrugge. Natural gas net imports are mainly from the Netherlands and Norway. L-gas (low-calorific gas) produced in the Netherlands account for roughly one-fifth of Belgium’s gas supply. Belgian gas demand has fluctuated around 18 bcm over the past decade, led by industry, which accounted for approximately 40 percent of total gas demand, followed by electricity and heat generation, residential buildings, and service sector buildings. While Belgium’s gas demand in power generation is expected to decline by 2050 due to the shift toward renewable and low-carbon energies, gas is still expected to remain significant for some time. 

Belgium maintains a high degree of natural gas supply security through a combination of several measures, including underground commercial gas storage and well-established safety standards of the supply infrastructure. Belgium’s natural gas emergency response policies are in line with European Union (EU) Regulation 2017/1938 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply (“the SoS Regulation”). 
Belgium’s well-developed and highly interconnected natural gas network supplies domestic gas demand and acts as a hub supporting flows between France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK, and to the broader European market. Belgium has two gas transmission systems: one for receiving, transporting and distributing L-gas, and another for H-gas (high-calorific gas). Belgium is in the process of converting its L-gas network to support H-gas, which is expected to be completed by 2030. 

Networks: Transmission and Distribution 

Belgium’s transmission networks are physically separate and operated independently from each other by the gas TSO Elia. Belgium’s combined H-gas and L-gas transmission networks are composed of 4,000 km of high-pressure gas pipelines that supply gas directly to over 230 large industrial end users and power stations and over 70 receiving stations that supply Belgium’s gas distributions networks. The network has three main high-pressure pipelines to transport gas within Belgium and to neighboring countries. The VTN-RTR H-gas pipeline is bi-directional and runs from the interconnection with the United Kingdom and the Zeebrugge LNG terminal to interconnections with Germany and the Netherlands. The Segeo H-gas pipeline runs from the Netherlands to France. The Poppel-Blaregnies pipeline supplies L-gas from the Netherlands to Belgium and France. 

Belgium’s distribution network is also composed of separate distribution networks for L-gas and H-gas with medium- and low-pressure pipelines and serves most gas consumers in the residential, commercial, and small and medium-sized industrial sectors. Belgium’s gas distribution system had around 2.7 million connection points. The country’s municipalities have a legal monopoly on gas and electricity distribution and own the gas and electricity distribution networks. Nearly all municipalities have transferred responsibility for the operation of the gas and electricity distribution networks to intermunicipal companies, which are the distribution system operators (DSO) for the assigned section of the gas distribution network. In 2023, there were 17 DSOs in Belgium, with 11 in Flanders; five in Wallonia, where ORES and RESA serve most of the region; and one in the Brussels Capital Region.

LNG Terminals and Interconnections 

The Belgian transmission grid has a high level of interconnectivity with adjacent transmission grids, offering extensive access to the Northwest European market and its production facilities. Belgium has 17 cross-border pipeline interconnection points, with 13 serving the H-gas network and four serving the L-gas network. The H-gas interconnections supply domestic H-gas demand and transit H-gas regionally and to the broader European market. The Alveringem interconnection point is the most recent H-gas interconnection (commissioned in 2015) and connects Belgium’s H-gas network to the LNG terminal in Dunkirk, France. The L-gas interconnections supply domestic L-gas demand and transit L-gas to France. 

Belgium has one LNG terminal operated by Fluxys LNG located in the Port of Zeebrugge, which supplies Belgium and the European market with H-gas. Fluxys is considering increasing the Zeebrugge Terminal regasification capacity. The Indicative Investment Plan of Fluxys Belgium and Fluxys LNG 2021-2030 announced construction of new regasification capacity to increase the stand-alone send out capacity to 10.5  gigawatt hours per hour (GWh/h) by 2026. 

Fluxys has built four additional bays due to the sharp increase in demand for LNG as fuel for trucks and ships. It also started offering bio-LNG services at the plant. Belgium has one underground natural gas storage facility connected with the H-gas transmissions system in Loenhout. The facility is also operated by Fluxys Belgium and can be used by any gas supplier. It has a maximum storage capacity of 680 mcm, a maximum injection capacity of 7.8 mcm per day and a maximum withdrawal capacity of 15.0 mcm per day. The facility is used for seasonal gas storage and is highly flexible. Considering that annual gas consumption was 18.5 bcm in 2019, the gas storage facility can cover the equivalent of around 13 days of Belgium’s average gas demand. Short-term gas storage is also available at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal, which has a capacity of around 347 mcm of natural gas. 

The Loenhout storage facility gives suppliers a flexible source of natural gas and allows them to ensure the continuity of deliveries to end users. Belgium does not have any storage for L-gas, other than line-pack. Currently, Belgium uses the Dutch L-gas fields as swing supplier to provide flexibility in L-gas supply. 

Opportunities 

Additional LNG Slots in 2025
In December 2024 Fluxys LNG announced it will be offering 26 additional primary slots to unload, store and regasify LNG cargoes in the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in 2025. The company has been auctioning slots throughout 2025.  

Doing Business in Belgium’s Natural Gas and LNG Sector

The energy sector in Belgium is shaped by the policies of its national and regional governments, as well as the European Union. The monitoring of the electricity and natural gas market happens on three regional levels, the Brussels-capital region, the Flemish region, and the Walloon region.

In terms of procurement opportunities, the Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA) advise and supports public services on public procurement. BOSA offers a range of framework agreements for purchases and by giving advice on the regulations on this subject. It is also responsible for the management, development and maintenance of the e-Procurement platform, where procurement of federal, regional and local authorities can be found.  U.S. companies should pursue private sector tender opportunities directly with those companies. 
Although U.S. exporters are not required to appoint a local agent or distributor to sell to Belgian companies, it is strongly recommended that companies consider partnering with a local company for the purposes of monitoring business opportunities, navigating import and standard testing regulations, and identifying public sector sales and contract opportunities. The U.S. Commercial Service in Brussels can advise US companies on finding local partners. 

For more information or assistance please contact the U.S. Commercial Service office close to you to discuss your international projects for Belgium.

 

 

 

 

 

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