Background

Gasunie is a European gas infrastructure company whose network ranks among the largest high pressure gas pipeline grids in Europe. Gasunie's gas transmission network has a total annual gas throughput of approximately 120 billion cubic meters. It consists of over 15,000 kilometers of pipelines in the Netherlands and northern Germany and some 1,300 gas receiving stations. The company also offers services in the field of transportation and storage of natural gas and LNG.

In 2013, Gazprom and Gasunie signed the Memorandum of Understanding on strategic cooperation. In 2015, the companies inked the Framework Agreement to cooperate in the small-scale LNG sector in Europe.

Nord Stream is the gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas running across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipeline is operated by the Nord Stream AG joint venture (Gazprom – 51 per cent, BASF/Wintershall and E.ON – 15.5 per cent each, and Gasunie and ENGIE – 9 per cent each).