Commercial gas supply has started via the 2nd branch of Nord Stream to Germany
The commercial gas supply by the 2nd branch of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on the territory of Germany has started – the NEL pipeline, Wintershall said.
From the mid October NEL was loaded with gas and has been checked in the trial operation.
OPAL NEL Transport says though almost the entire length of the pipeline was constructed within a record short period, in the southern direction from Hamburg in the area of Winsen the rerouting is required at the passage of 40 km. The new planned gas pipeline route, the so-called “southern variant” is being approved now. It is planned to complete the construction of this part in the autumn 2013, then the system of gas transportation will work at full capacity.
To provide the duly gas acceptance from the 2nd branch of the Nord Stream, the by passing gas pipeline via the existing pipeline system from the checking point in Zyulstorf to the town of Akhim near Bremen will be involved in the area of the non-completed part as a temporary decision. Thus NEL will make its contribution into the rise of reliability of the energy supply with the current 20% productivity.
The operation of the gas pipeline from November 1st 2012 will be controlled by the recently founded company NEL Gastransport GmbH that holds the stakes in W&G-Gruppe (51%). Together with the stakes of the gas pipeline, NEL is owned by Gasunie-Gruppe (the Netherlands) (20 %), Fluxys-Gruppe (Belgium) (19 %) and E.ON Ruhrgas AG (10 %). NEL Gastransport GmbH, having become the owner of the NEL gas pipeline from Novemebr 1st 2012, took on the responsibilities of the enterprise that uses the network of the pipelines.
OPAL NEL Transport GmbH is becoming the owner of the route pipeline OPAL. It is a part of the W&G GC, the structure of which, besides the natural gas supplier – Wingas, also comprises Gascade Gastransport GmbH, that holds a network of the route gas pipelines with the length of more than 2,000 km in Germany.
The gas pipeline is to be laid from the exit point of the Nord Stream to the land in Germany by passing Hamburg and Bremen to Reden. The construction of the NEL gas pipeline started in the spring 2011 and it was planned to be over by November 1st 2012 – by the start of the supply by the 2nd branch of the Nord Stream. However, in late June2011 a number of citizens of Lower Saxony put in question the construction of the gas pipeline at Court and the pipeline’s laying closer than 350 meters to the living houses was banned. In total the construction of 30 km of the pipeline was impossible due to the ban. A part of the volumes was supposed to be shipped by the by passing ways.
The NEL gas pipeline as well as another offset – OPAL, connects the Nord Stream with the European gas infrastructure. The length of the gas pipeline is440 km, capacity – 20 bln cubic meters.
The 2nd branch of the Nord Stream with the length of 1.2 thousand km with the total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters was launched on October 8th. The shareholders of the project’s operator - Nord Stream AG- are Gazprom (51%), Wintershall Holding and E.ON Ruhrgas (15.5% each), GDF Suez Gasunie (9% each).
http://www.oilru.com/news/345050/
Translated by Galiya Musabekova
