About: Nord Stream Archives

Russian gas deliveries to Germany via the Opal pipeline fell by around 30% today (1 February) after Poland successfully blocked a deal giving Gazprom a bigger share of the pipeline's capacity.

European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič warned today (30 January) against over-simplifying how much capacity Gazprom could use of the Opal pipeline, which carries gas via Nord Stream under the Baltic Sea to Germany and the Czech Republic.

Russian gas producer Gazprom said yesterday (16 January) its gas exports to Germany hit a record high last year and have surged since the start of this year.

Germany's energy regulator and Gazprom have agreed terms of a deal giving the subsidiaries of the Russian group greater access to the Opal gas pipeline, which the European Union approved a month ago.

A recent decision of the European Commission puts the whole European diversification and energy security strategy in jeopardy, and Poland and Ukraine may take legal action against the EU executive, writes Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.

An unlikely coalition is emerging in Germany between Angela Merkel’s CDU and the Greens. More and more, both parties want to stop the construction of a second pipeline that will transport gas directly from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, explains Judy Dempsey.

The controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline will wreck the EU’s Energy Union strategy and kill off its plans to boost Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the bloc, a veteran US ambassador has warned.

The European Commission wants the power to review energy deals between member states and countries such as Russia before they are signed, the bloc's top energy official said on Tuesday (26 January) -  a move opposed by some states reluctant to cede control to Brussels.

EXCLUSIVE / The issue of Nord Stream 2 will be discussed at the 17-18 December EU summit, but the exchange is unlikely to go very far because the countries opposing the project use legal arguments which are not widely accepted, analysts told EURACTIV.

EXCLUSIVE/ Seven countries, all new members from Central and Eastern Europe, have rallied around the position that Russia's plans to double the capacity of its gas pipeline to Germany run counter to EU interests and risk further destabilizing Ukraine, EURACTIV has learned.

Germany's Minister of  Finance, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), has aligned himself with Vladimir Putin on the Nord Stream gas-pipeline expansion issue. EURACTIV's partner Tagesspiegel reports.

Since the Paris attacks last Friday (13 November), the military activity of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has increased, Linas Linkevi?ius, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

Poland wants the European Union to ban the construction of a second pipeline to pump Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, alleging it undermines the bloc's strategic interests and violates competition rules.

A proposed pipeline to boost Russian gas supplies to Germany risks depriving Ukraine of more than $2 billion in transit fees, and runs counter to the EU's goal of reducing its energy reliance on Russia, a US official said today (5 November).

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said today (10 September) that a deal between Russia's Gazprom and its European partners to expand the Nord Stream gas pipeline was a "betrayal" that would cost Ukraine and Slovakia a combined billions of euros.

Poland's conservative president yesterday (8 September) slammed a deal between Russian energy giant Gazprom, and several leading Western firms, to build a second gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, saying it ignores Polish interests.

Gazprom and its European partners signed a shareholders' agreement on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project that will run beneath the Baltic Sea to Europe, bringing Europe closer to Moscow's energy orbit.

Russia's plans to drop Ukraine as a route for pumping natural gas to Europe will leave Gazprom facing about $1 billion in annual transit fees to Slovakia and Bulgaria, industry sources say.

Putin knows he can use Greece to drive a wedge between Brussels and individual EU member states, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras should have known better when he makes plans for an extension of the Turkish Stream project across his country, write Sijbren de Jong and Willem Oosterveld.

BREAKING / Russia and Greece signed a deal today (19 June) for a section of the Turkish Stream pipeline across Greece, and Gazprom announced plans to build two additional stretches to the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

EU and Russia have agreed a deal on the use of Germany's OPAL link to Gazprom's Nord Stream gas pipeline, a Russian energy ministry spokeswoman said yesterday (16 September).

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will attend today's (8 November) launch ceremony in Germany of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which will bring Russian natural gas to Western Europe directly under the Baltic Sea. Experts warned however that the pipeline would run at only half capacity in the initial period.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday (5 September) that his country would begin pumping the first technical gas through the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline from today, so that European clients could start receiving supplies in October or November.

Berlin is opposed to Poland receiving an EU grant to construct an LNG gas terminal on its Baltic coast due to environmental concerns. But the Polish press argues that the real cause of Germany's unease is that the new terminal would compete with the Nord Stream gas pipeline.