EU regulators have given their green light for Russia’s Gazprom to send more gas through a key pipeline in Germany.<br /><br /> The European Commission’s decision comes at a politically sensitive time.<br /><br /> Russia is a key supplier of gas to the EU, although tensions remain over Moscow’s bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo.<br /><br /> The Opal connector links Gazprom’s Nord Stream pipeline to Central and Eastern Europe.<br /><br /> EU competition rules meant Gazprom has only been able to use just 50 percent of Opal’s 36 billion cubic metre of annual capacity.<br /><br /> The decision means it could bid for up to 40 percent of the remaining capacity.<br /><br /> The Russian gas giant is also said to be close to resolving a five-year anti-trust dispute with the EU.<br />
