The Nord Stream pipeline became operational on 8th November 2011. The first of twin gas pipelines was officially inaugurated by European political leaders including Angela Merkel (German Chancellor), Dmitry Medvedev (Russian President), Mark Rutte (Dutch Prime Minister) and few others.

The 1,222km long Nord Stream pipeline will be fully operational by 2012 and will have capacity of 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) to push natural gas from Russia and Germany. The pipeline is operated under Nord Stream AG which is incorporated in Zug, Switzerland. Gazprom holds a 51 % stake in the joint venture, BASF SE/Wintershall Holding AG and E.ON Ruhrgas holds 15.5% stake each, and GDF Suez and Gasunie has a 9% stake each.

Read the full press release here.

On 12th September 2011, European Union (EU) agreed for European Commission to negotiate with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan for the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline to ship natural gas from across the Caspian Sea to Europe. The new pipeline would reduce Europe’s reliance on Russia for natural gas. Read more about on TCGP at Wikipedia TCGP