MOSCOW, June 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Gas exporter Gazprom will compete in an auction for the German land-link section of the 1,224-kilometer Nord Stream pipeline that takes Russian gas to Europe.

It will bid for the 470-kilometer OPAL connection along Germany's eastern border on July 15, said Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev, noting the move had been coordinated with a German regulator and was in the European Commission's (EC) own interests.

OPAL's land line has been exempted from the ECThird Energy Package, which stops suppliers from controlling transporation networks.

Exemption was granted before conflict erupted between Ukraine and Russia.

It followed requests by Gazprom and German project partners aimed at averting financial losses, alongside German pressure on EC regulators to allow additional facilities that meete Gazprom needs.

Nord Stream comprises two 1,224 kilometer long pipelines, each with annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of supply. The links connect gas from major Russian fields, running across the Baltic Sea to the European Union energy system.