Gazprom Able to Participate in OPAL Auctions Following Court Ruling

The decision of Duesseldorf regional court and General Court of the European Union allows Gazprom Export company and other interested parties to participate in the auctions on expanded capacities of the OPAL gas pipeline and reserve these capacities, Gazprom Export said in a statement on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Duesseldorf regional court lifted earlier in the day provisional measures in Polish PGNiG company's efforts to freeze OPAL's capacities. The General Court of the European Union allowed in a July 21 ruling for Russia's Gazprom to use up to 90 percent of the pipeline's capacities.

"The decision of European Commission from October 28, 2016 and agreement from November 28, 2016, thus, remain valid. It will allow the company operator of the OPAL pipeline after corresponding agreement with German regulator to hold auctions on access to the capacities of the pipeline, with Gazprom Export and other interested parties being able to participate in these auctions and reserve the capacities in the framework of these auctions," the statement read.

Germany's OPAL network operator announced on Friday that it planned to launch an auction on its gas pipeline's expanded transport capacities next week after receiving a green light from national regulators.

The OPAL pipeline connects Europe’s gas transportation network with the Nord Stream pipeline, which was built in 2010 to supply Russian gas along a Baltic Sea pipeline to northern Germany.