The Court of Justice of the European Union has confirmed in appeal a previous judgment (September 2019) limiting Gazprom’s access to the 36 bcm/year OPAL gas pipeline in Germany, based on the EU's third-party access (TPA) rules. The request was brought by Poland against Germany.
In October 2016, the German Federal Network Agency Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) and the European Commission approved lifting the cap on the use by Gazprom of the OPAL facility. Gazprom, which had already access to 50% of the pipeline capacity, was then in a position to deliver more gas to Europe and to bid for an additional 7.7-10.2 bcm in volumes at auction. The Polish gas company PGNIG appealed that decision in December 2016, highlighting the risks of gas supply disruptions or termination, but the European Union Court of Justice (EU Court) rejected the appeal in late July 2017. In an August 2017 auction, Gazprom won the right to use the free capacity of the OPAL gas pipeline in Germany.
The 36 bcm/year OPAL gas pipeline is the onshore section of the 55 bcm/year Nord Stream-1 gas pipeline which transports natural gas from Vyborg (Russia) to customers in Western Europe via a 1,200 km-long pipeline in the Baltic Sea. The OPAL facility was brought into service in 2011 and connects the town of Lubmin (Germany) with the town of Brandov (Czech Republic), completely avoiding the Polish territory. Nord Stream-1 is also connected to the 20 bcm/year NEL (Norddeutsche Erdgasleitung) pipeline.
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