ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 18 (UPI) -- Adding two new lines to the twin Nord Stream natural gas pipeline sending Russian gas to the European market is under consideration, Austrian company OMV said.
Lead officials with OMV visited in St. Petersburg with Alexei Miller, the chairman of Russian energy company Gazprom, for a working meeting. Both sides signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of oil and gas fields in Russia.
"The memorandum also sets forth the intentions of the parties to examine a possible cooperation in the project of construction of two lines in addition to the already existing Nord Stream pipeline," the Austrian company said in a statement.
OMV is a partner in Gazprom's twin Nord Stream pipeline running through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The system can carry as much as 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas per year.
The first leg of the pipeline system went into service in 2011. British energy company BP a year after the pipeline went into service said it was considering linking the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to British ports.
OMV has said it views its Russian partners at Gazprom as vital to ensuring energy security in the European community. Nord Stream is a network for Russian gas that avoids geopolitically sensitive territory in Ukraine, which hosts about 20 percent of the Russian gas headed to the European market.
OMV was a party to the South Stream gas pipeline, which Gazprom scaled back last year and reconfigured as the Turkish Stream network through Turkey.
Fitch Ratings said last year the decision to abandon South Stream reflected low demand for additional natural gas volumes in the European market as much as it does frustration with Russia's control over the European energy market. With Europe looking to break the Russian grip on the regional energy sector, OMV said it viewed the announcement as political in nature.
