MOSCOW, October 24 -- Gazprom turned to the European Commission in late 2013 with a request to exclude the OPAL gas pipeline from the rules of the Third Energy Package The European Commission may once again delay a decision on providing full access for Russian energy giant Gazprom to the OPAL gas pipeline, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday. “I believe this is not the last delay,” Novak told journalists. “It seems to be (EU’s) principal decision not to consider this issue yet, although all the necessary agreements with the German regulator were reached in late 2013.” The issue was supposed to be considered on September 15, but the deadline was eventually moved to October 31. The European Commission has been postponing the decision on the issue since March 10 with an average frequency of one time in each two months. Excluding OPAL from under Third Energy Package Gazprom turned to the European Commission in late 2013 with a request to exclude the OPAL gas pipeline from the rules of the Third Energy Package, which requires the separation of gas production, transportation and sale to prevent gas suppliers from dominating the infrastructure. Under the rules of the Third Energy Package, Gazprom is required to reserve up to 50% of the OPAL gas pipeline’s capacities for gas transportation by independent gas suppliers. The OPAL gas pipeline, which has an annual capacity of 36 billion cubic meters and runs along Germany’s eastern border, provides a link from Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipe running under the Baltic Sea to Europe’s existing gas transport networks. The German Economy Ministry insists on providing full access for Gazprom to the OPAL pipeline over the threat of interruptions in Russia’s natural gas transit via Ukraine.
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