Permit of the European Commission on the gas pipeline OPAL might be obtained by the end of October, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.
“Now we are working on obtaining a permit of the European Commission. We expect that by the end of October, such authorization will be received,” he said.
OPAL is a branch pipeline off the Nord Stream-1 that delivers Russian gas to Europe, bypassing transit countries. Through OPAL, gas travels to Germany and then, to the German border with the Czech Republic. However, now, due to the European Commission restrictions Gazprom can only use 50% of the OPAL capacity. The increase in the Russian gas volume through OPAL holds key importance for the Nord Stream-2 construction project.
In the mid-July, the Commission postponed the decision on Gazprom’s application to increase gas transport volume through the Opal pipeline.
Source: TASS
