RUSSIA - Other European Markets.

Gazprom supplies most other major European gas markets through its Wingas JV with BASF's Wintershall and its various border links. These include a 1,000 km, 10 BCM/y Wedal which runs from the east German frontier to Aachen on the western borders with Belgium, Holland and France. A 300 km line to the Belgian border on stream in late 1998 links up with the Interconnector, through which Wingas has been taking from BG surplus North Sea gas under a 20-year contract signed in mid-1996, and now this line's course is being reversed. The Interconnector is owned by BG (40%), Gazprom (10%), BP and Ruhrgas (now part of E-On). Wedal has linked a huge addition to Wingas purchases from Gazprom to supply the Ruhr area, the base from which Ruhrgas sprung up after World War II. The 10 BCM/y Jagal North, West and South pipeline system, on stream in 2000, links the huge Russian gas fields of Yamal to premium German markets dominated by Ruhrgas. Jagal will also link Yamal gas to France, Switzerland and the wider European grid.

Wingas will thus earn a great deal in transit fees, in addition to major profits to be made in areas once Ruhrgas considered impossible for competitors to penetrate. Jagal will be linked to Yamal gas from the Polish border, including two parallel underwater pipes under the Oder/Odra River inaugurated on Sept. 28, 1995. The third phase of a section running from Yamal to Belarus and across Poland is under construction, with the first part of a 665 km line completed in October 1996 and the second opened in September 1999 enabling Gazprom to pump 10 BCM/y to Wingas. This line's next capacity will be 32 BCM/y and final capacity is proposed to be 60 BCM/y (see Vol. 55, No. 8 & Vol. 63, No. 10).