The system consists of over 5,314 kilometres (3,302 mi)[1] of pipeline running through Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Earlier that year, in April 1985, a bomb attack was carried out against a part of the pipeline in Southern-Germany by Red Army Faction sympathisers.

[1] The operating company for German territory is Fernleitungsbetriebsgesellschaft GmbH (FBG) headquartered in Bad Godesberg and established in 1956.

In war times, it is operated by the armed forces of the NATO countries where the part of the pipeline is located.

For Belgium, the operating company Belgian Pipeline Organisation (BPO) is headquartered in Leuven.