Russia, EU Agree to Let German Pipeline Run at Full Capacity

BRUSSELS, January 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and the European Union agreed that the Opal pipeline in Germany, a continuation of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, should operate at full capacity, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

“We had certain problems about the Nord Stream’s continuation, the Opal pipeline system in Germany. We have agreed that it should be used not at 50 percent [of its capacity], but at 100 percent. So progress has been achieved on certain very complicated issues,” Putin said.

The Nord Stream’s twin 1,224-kilometer pipelines run along the Baltic Sea bed from Portovaya Bay in Russia to Lubmin on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, with an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas.

The integrated twin pipeline system has the capacity to transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russia’s massive gas fields to the EU when fully operational.

Nord Stream to Europe Across the Baltic Sea

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