Gazprom has applied for using 100% of the OPAL pipeline capacities,
Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky told journalists Tuesday.
According to him, the company is currently waiting for a decision of the German regulator
"As far as I know, Gazprom should not apply [for using 100% of OPAL
capacities - TASS], because the application was already submitted.
Therefore, this application needs to be approved, and it depends on the
German regulator and from the European Commission," Yanovsky said.
As TASS reported earlier, in September the German Federal Network
Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway,
(Bundesnetzagentur) told TASS that Gazprom and its European partners
have not presented their request. "No request for the OPAL gas pipeline
capacity was presented," the representative of the Agency said.
The European Commission still has not granted Gazprom permission to use 100% of OPAL capacities.
Russia and the European Commission discussed the Nord Stream-2 and
Turkish Stream projects at a meeting in Vienna in September. Gazprom CEO
Alexei Miller said he was confident Nord Stream-2 would be in line with
the European laws, obviously referring to the Third Energy Package.
However he said the issue of loading the OPAL gas pipeline [the
mainland extension of Nord Stream across Germany - TASS] had not yet
been settled but could be resolved soon.
"We have also informed the European Commission about our negotiations
with Turkey on the Turkish Stream and discussed possible supplies via
this route," Miller said.
In April, 2015 Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that
Russia resumed talks on the Opal pipeline status. "In fact, we’re
carrying talks over again, from the position stated back in October
2013. In March, Gazprom applied to the German regulator on receiving
100% access to Opal," Novak said.
The OPAL natural gas pipeline is a land extension of the offshore Nord Stream pipeline. Its capacity is 36 bln cubic meters.
Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and its Germany’s Wintershall have been
asking the European Commission for several years to free the OPAL
pipeline from the restrictions of the Third Energy Package. The
companies want to keep 100% of OPAL’s capacity under their control.
Until recently the European Commission was ready to grant Gazprom not
more than 50% of the pipeline’s capacity.
(ITAR-TASS)