Gazprom has announced that it will cooperate with Shell, E.ON and OMV in the construction of two new strings parallel to the exisiting Nord Stream Pipeline. The new 56 inch pipelines, to run along the floor of the Baltic between Russia and Germany, will total 1224 km with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per annum.

The deal with Shell is a coup for Gazprom at a time when many Western companies are reducing their exposure to Russia because of Western sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

Gazprom, which is under U.S. but not EU sanctions, is fighting for market share in Europe in the face of increasingly oversupplied gas markets, and is locked in a long-running dispute over payments to Europe with conflict-stricken Ukraine.

The company said the new pipeline will complement, not compete with Turkish Stream.