Gazela () is a

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is operated by Net4Gas, a company owned by Allianz Capital Partners and

OMERS The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is a Canadian public pension fund, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. OMERS is a defined benefit, jointly sponsored, multi-employer public pension plan created in 1962 by Ontario provinci ...

Infrastructure. The project costs around €400 million.

History

Construction started on 14 October 2010 in Krušné Hory, north Bohemia. It was constructed by Russian

Stroytransgaz OAO Stroytransgaz () is a Russian engineering construction company in the field of oil and gas industry. The company was founded in 1990. It was originally a subsidiary of Gazprom, but now controlled by Gennady Timchenko though his Volga Group SI ...

. The pipeline was officially opened on 14 January 2013.

Route

The pipeline connects the north

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n town of

Hora Svaté Kateřiny Hora Svaté Kateřiny () is a town in Most District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants. Administrative division Hora Svaté Kateřiny consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population accordi ...

and

Rozvadov Rozvadov () is a municipality and village in Tachov District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Located on the Czech-German border, the municipality is known for one of the busiest road border crossings in the ...

Waidhaus Waidhaus is a municipality in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria, Germany. It lies near the border with the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked coun ...

on the Czech–German border. These are natural gas border delivery stations by which

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n gas is transported from the Czech Republic to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In north the Gazela pipeline is connected to the

OPAL pipeline The OPAL (''Ostsee-Pipeline-Anbindungsleitung'') is a natural gas pipeline in Germany alongside the German eastern border. The OPAL pipeline is one of two projected pipelines connecting the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to the existing pipeline grid in ...

, a connection pipeline to

Nord Stream 1 Nord Stream (Denglisch, German–English mixed expression for "North Stream 1"; ) is a pair of offshore natural gas pipeline transport, pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It consists of the Nord Stream 1 ( ...

. There were three possible route options with the length from . It was decided to construct the pipeline in the long route along the existing gas pipelines. The pipeline will divert from the existing pipelines only in the

Mladotice Mladotice () is a municipality and village in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Mladotice lies approximately north of Plzeň and west of Prague. Administrative division Mladotice con ...

–

Chomutov Chomutov (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The historic city centre is well preserved and is protected as ...

section.

References

{{Authority control 2012 establishments in the Czech Republic Energy infrastructure completed in 2012 Natural gas pipelines in the Czech Republic

History

Route

See also

References