OREANDA-NEWS. The Polish energy group PGNiG has won the OPAL gas pipeline case in the EU Court. This was stated on Twitter by the Ministry of Energy of Poland. "The EU court has issued a favorable verdict for Poland on the use of the OPAL gas pipeline by Gazprom. The court has canceled the decision of the European Commission, giving the Russian concern the right to use the gas pipeline 100%", the Ministry of Energy said in a statement. In a statement on the agency’s website, they also noted that the decision of the EU Court of Justice through the OPAL pipeline would not allow Gazprom to refuse to transit gas through Ukraine.

“The EU Court’s verdict is of great importance from the point of view of the termination of the agreement on the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. Due to the limited possibility of using the OPAL gas pipeline, Gazprom will have to reduce the use of the Nord Stream, which means that it will probably not be able to completely abandon gas transit through Ukraine and will be forced to continue tripartite negotiations with the European Commission and Ukraine", the document says.

"Poland’s victory in this case reduces the likelihood of a serious gas crisis in Ukraine, which could also hit other countries in the region, including Poland", the ministry quotes the words of the head of the department, Krzysztof Tchuzhevsky.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline consists of two pipelines 1224 km long and with a throughput capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year each. It connects the EU energy system with the largest natural gas fields directly through the Baltic Sea. The land continuation of Nord Stream in Germany is the NEL and OPAL pipelines. The Nord Stream shareholders are Gazprom with a 51 percent stake, the German companies Wintershall and E.ON Ruhgas with a 15.5 percent stake, as well as the Dutch Gasunie and the French ENGIE with a 9 percent stake.