The Nord Stream company has resumed gas pumping through the “Nord Stream” pipeline after conducting planned annual maintenance works on both lines. This was reported on the website of the operator.

      

      Nord Stream noted that maintenance works contribute to the preservation of the pipeline’s good condition and will help to ensure transportation of up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually for at least 50 years. The pumping was suspended on August 11.

      

      Before this Nord Stream said that the schedule of works was agreed upon with partners, including operators of the incoming gas pipeline in Russia and the receiving gas pipeline in Germany. According to the reports of “Gazprom” in accordance with IFRS, last year the holding exported 36.5 billion cubic meters of gas through “Nord Stream”, which is 1.5 times more than the same indicator in 2013.

      

      The total capacity of the pipeline makes up 55 billion cubic meters per year, i.e. the amount of its load equaled 66.4 percent in 2014. The acting “Nord Stream” pipeline includes two lines 1224 kilometers long with a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters per year each. It passes through the Baltic Sea bottom and connects the power system of the European Union with the largest natural gas fields.

      

      The land continuation of “Nord Stream” in Germany is presented by the NEL and OPA pipelines. The Russian holding company started deliveries of energy carrier through “Nord Stream” in 2012. The shareholders of “Nord Stream”, the operator of “Nord Stream”,  are “Gazprom” (51 percent), the German Wintershall and E.ON Ruhgas (owning 15.5 percent each), the Dutch Gasunie and the French ENGIE (the share of each making up 9 percent).