Russia to Submit Gas Plan to EU

Russia will present the European Union with a new draft agreement on gas pipelines during a summit on December 21, the Russian energy minister said Friday.

"The updated [draft] agreement basically features only two major facilities - the Nord Stream [gas pipeline] with the OPAL and NEL offshoots, and the South Stream," Novak said at a media briefing.

Should the agreement be adopted by the EU, it will become the basis for exempting the pipelines from the so-called third energy package.

Russia submitted to the EU energy commission the previous draft agreement on transnational energy facilities in early 2012, Novak said.

According to Platts, Russia wants the EU to give the three pipelines the status of the so-called TEN-E, or Trans-European Energy Network. This would allow exemption from third package rules on third-party access and the separation of gas trading from gas network operatorship. 

See earlier story: Russia, EU, to Debate Nord Stream