La Russia has doubled the capacity of Nord Stream, opening a new branch of the gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea (thanks to an investment of 6,4 billion euros) which connects Germany, and therefore Europe, directly (that is, without passing through Ukraine and Belarus), with the natural gas reserves from Siberia. The work, which joins the conduit opened last November, is 1.224 kilometers long and brings the pipeline's annual capacity to 55 billion cubic meters.
The launch of the second arm, for President Putin, is a "guarantee of stable, continuous supplies to Europe", which receives about two-fifths of its natural gas from Russia, which has the world's largest reserves.
The opening of the new gas pipeline could also serve to defuse the climate of tension between Russia and the European Union on energy policies, a climate that has arisen following the Commission's decision to launch an antitrust investigation against Gazprom, suspected of abuse of a dominant position in various Central-Eastern European countries.
