Interview with Jean-Marc Brimont, managing director of Natran Deutschland

Of course, the entire energy and climate industry is also waiting for the new coalition to get started. The start-up capital has already been substantially increased. An additional 100 billion euros are available in the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF). However, the presumed coalition partners did not want the money specifically for climate protection. Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Greens) secured the additional funding for the KTF as the ‘price’ for agreeing to a constitutional amendment that allows the new government to take on more debt for infrastructure and defense. What will a new federal government do with the new money? I have no idea! After the last general election, it was clear that a green minister for the economy would be very quick and ambitious in promoting climate protection. Think tanks had already presented corresponding concepts before the election, and some of the staff were also recruited from these think tanks. That didn't always work, but that's history. In my opinion, it is currently completely unclear where people and concepts for energy and climate policy of the new coalition should come from. The lowest common denominator of the parties involved seems to be, first and foremost, that electricity prices must "come down". However, even with a possible incentive system for 20 GW of gas-fired power plants to safeguard the electricity system, I am curious to see what the implementation will look like. We will probably know more in May. In this issue, you will find information on the status of the discussions up to the end of March in the Framework Conditions section and the Market Rumours section.

The installation of five FSRUs in Germany has proved to be a tough business. In the last issue, I reported about the dispute between the federal government and Deutsche Regas over Energos Power. Things got even more absurd in March. The state operator Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) and the private operator of the future land-based LNG terminal in Stade are accusing each other of incompetence and breach of contract in their attempt to put the FSRU's Energos Force in Stade into operation. Only Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is watching this with some satisfaction. From their point of view, the government had planned too lavishly anyway.

Apart from that, two rather absurd questions dominate the daily discussions on the gas trading floors: when and via which route will more Russian gas arrive again, and how will the storage facilities be filled in the summer?

The gas market never gets boring, so enjoy the read!

Dr. Heiko Lohmann
Freelancer

E-Mail +49 30 8824005

"Topic of the month: Interview with Jean-Marc Brimont, managing director of Natran Deutschland"

Since December 2024, Jean-Marc Brimont has been the managing director of Natran Deutschland. When he started, the company’s name was still GRTgaz Deutschland. The new name, introduced at the end of January 2025 (energate Gasmarkt 03/25), is programmatic and has a new tagline: ‘The Heart of Your Energies.’ It is backed by an ambitious corporate project, Natran2030. The company aims to position its infrastructure at the heart of the energy transition within the gas system and support carbon neutrality by 2050. Naturally, I talked to Mr Brimont about this change in the company’s strategy and mindset that is symbolised by the name as part of our interview. To some extent, Mr Brimont embodies this new mindset, too. He has worked for Natran and its predecessor companies for more than 20 years, mainly in the infrastructure business. Before he became managing director of the German affiliate of the French infrastructure operator, one of his responsibilities was H2med. He was the project director of the ambitious European hydrogen transmission project of the five TSOs REN (Portugal), Enagas (Spain), Natran and Teréga (both France) and OGE (Germany). They want to develop a hydrogen pipeline corridor connecting Portugal via Spain and France with Germany (Figure 1). I learned in the interview the importance of H2med for the future of Natran Germany. Only for the sake of completeness: Natran is part of the French Engie Group, one of Europe’s major energy companies.

energate Gasmarkt: Mr Brimont, you have been in Germany for three months now. Did anything surprise you about your new job?

Mr Brimont: I’ve been working in the infrastructure business in different roles for more than 20 years. I knew how Natran Deutschland was functioning and what the challenges are. I was also very interested in the German market. In my last position, I headed the H2med project. Hence, it is a good and logical consequence that Natran offered me the chance to come to Germany. It’s very much about promoting and developing renewable and low-carbon gases. In Germany, that means transforming Megal into a hydrogenready infrastructure. I assume we will discuss this in more detail later.