14/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - North Stream, extension of capacity is planned. The North Stream gas pipeline, which links from Russia to the EU under the Baltic Sea, could be given two additional conduits. The stakeholders of the consortium managing the project - Russia's Gazprom, the German companies BASF and EON, the Dutch Gasunie and GDF Suez of France - have commissioned a feasibility study into the possible options to increase the gas pipeline's capacity. Both technical solutions and alternative options will be taken into account, along with the environment and financing. In mid-April, North Stream announced that it had finished laying the second conduit pipeline, parallel to the first, which has been operating since November 2011, to increase its transport capacity from 27.5 billion to 55 billion cubic metres a year. (EH/transl.fl)