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 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 ( ...

pipeline to the existing pipeline grid in Middle and Western Europe, the other one being the

NEL pipeline The NEL (Nordeuropäische Erdgasleitung (English: Northern European natural gas pipeline), formerly known as Norddeutsche Erdgasleitung, is a long natural gas pipeline in Germany. Route The pipeline runs from Lubmin near Greifswald through Süls ...

Route

The long pipeline runs from

Lubmin Lubmin () is a coastal resort in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Lubmin is situated near Greifswald and on the Bay of Greifswald. Apart from tourism, Lubmin is a major transport and industry hub and investment location in the German e ...

near

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

to Olbernhau near German-Czech border. It connects the Nord Stream pipeline with the JAGAL (distributes gas from the Yamal-Europe pipeline), and the STEGAL (distributes gas from the Central-European Russian gas transit system (Transgas) via Czechia and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) pipelines in Germany. On the German-Czech border the pipeline is connected with the

Gazela Pipeline Gazela () is a natural gas Pipeline transport, pipeline in the Czech Republic. It is operated by Net4Gas, a company owned by Allianz, Allianz Capital Partners and OMERS Infrastructure. The project costs around €400 million. History Con ...

, to connect gas export pipelines in Czechia.

Technical features

The diameter of the pipeline is and it has an operating pressure up to . The capacity of the pipeline is per year of natural gas. The compressor station in Radeland, Brandeburg, is built by

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. The pipeline cost around €1 billion. The construction was completed in 2011 and in August 2011 Nord Stream was connected with the OPAL pipeline.

Project company

The pipeline was constructed by OPAL NEL TRANSPORT GmbH, a subsidiary of Wingas. It is operated by OPAL Gastransport GmbH & Co KG, owned by WIGA Transport Beteiligungs-GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture of

Wintershall Dea Wintershall Dea GmbH is a German gas and oil producer. The joint venture was created in May 2019 by the merger between Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG. BASF SE has a 67% stake in it, with the other 33% being held by LetterO ...

and

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

Access by Gazprom

Polish state-run gas firm PGNiG and PGNiG Supply & Trading tried to restrict

's access to the pipeline.

Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf An (; plural – ; OLG, , or in Berlin ''Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They are positioned above regional courts () and below the Federal Court ...

lifted the restrictions After the decision Gazprom increased the throughput to 72.5 million m³/d (26.462 billion/year).

References

External links