The European Commission authorized Gazprom, a Russian oil giant, to increase gas shipping through OPAL pipeline bypassing Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reports on Wednesday.
This pipeline is an onshore section of Nord Stream 1 and runs alongside the German eastern border. The 470-kilometre long pipeline starts in Lubmin near Greifswald and ends in Olbernhau near German-Czech border. From that place, Russia gas is supplied to Central Europe states bypassing Ukraine.
Since the year 2011, Russia has had a right to exploit just half of the capacity of this transit gas pipeline, the rest was on a stand-by.
It was after the relative auction was conducted, that Gazprom got an opportunity to increase utilized capacity.
