AlQa'dah 20, 1436, Sep 4, 2015, SPA -- Russian energy company Gazprom strengthened its grip on the European energy sector in a deal with regional partners to expand a Baltic Sea gas pipeline, UPI reported. Gazprom Chairman Alexei signed a shareholder agreement on the development of the second phase of the twin Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea with his counterparts at German energy companies BASF and E.ON, as well as those from French company ENGIE, Austria's OMV and Royal Dutch Shell. "Nord Stream 2 will double the throughput of our direct, state-of-the-art gas supply route via the Baltic Sea," Miller said in a statement. "It is important that those are mostly the new gas volumes, which will be sought for in Europe due to the continuous decline in its domestic production." Under the proposed expansion, two more lines would be added to the existing network running to the German coast, bringing the net aggregate annual capacity to 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
