Gazprom must halve deliveries on most of Opal pipeline - regulator

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom <GAZP.MM> must immediately cut by half gas deliveries it makes via the Opal gas pipeline that is controlled by a joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall DEA [RWEDE.UL], Germany's Bundesnetzagentur network regulator said.

"If necessary the Bundesnetzagentur will carry out supervisory measures to ensure this," a spokesman for the regulator said. A day earlier, Europe's top court had overruled an EU decision allowing Gazprom to ship more gas via the pipeline.

Opal is 80%-owned by a WIGA, a joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall DEA, while the rest is owned by a subsidiary of German utility Uniper <UN01.DE>.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, editing by Thomas Escritt)