Russian giant Gazprom announced completion of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline: Kremlin wants it to start operations as soon as possible

Russian giant Gazprom on Friday announced the completion of construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will transport Russian gas to Germany across the bottom of the Baltic Sea. and thus avoid Ukrainian territory.

“During today’s operational meeting at Gazprom, CEO Alexei Miller said that this morning at 8:45 am Moscow time (5:45 am GMT), construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline was fully completed.“said the Russian gas company in its official Telegram account.

Last Monday, the last pipe of the second line of the gas pipeline was placed in the German waters of the Baltic Sea, after which it only remained to connect to the section that connected it to Denmark.

The consortium that built Nord Stream 2 –Gazprom with the French companies Engie, the German companies Uniper and Wintershall, the Austrian OMV and the Anglo-Dutch Shell, wants to put the pipeline into service before the end of the year.

According to Miller on September 2, the first supplies via Nord Stream 2 can begin now in the next boreal winter season.

However, Russia asked on Friday that it enter into operation “as soon as possible”.

“We are all interested as soon as possible” Germany gives permission to start gas deliveries, noted Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Russian presidency, in a speech to the press.

Gazprom estimates that gas supplies through the pipeline can reach up to 5.6 billion cubic meters, out of the 55,000 million cubic meters of gas that it will be able to deliver to Europe per year.

In Europe, the gas pipeline is waking up concerns in various countries, especially in the east, since it increases Energy dependence of the European Union (EU) on Russia, which will no longer depend on Ukraine to transport its gas to the Old Continent.

The United States wanted to stop the project with sanctions because it believed that the pipeline strengthens Russia, creates risks for Europe by making it dependent on Russian gas and threatens Ukraine’s energy security.. But the administration of the American president, Joe Biden, withdrew his opposition to the pipeline last July, admitting he could no longer stop it..

The sanctions that the United States had previously imposed on the project led to the suspension of work in December 2019, when the Swiss company Allseas, until then in charge of the construction of the submarine section of Nord Stream 2, announced its final withdrawal from the Baltic Sea.

The viability of the project therefore raised doubts, but Gazprom and Russian President Vladimir Putin have always said that if all else fails, Russia will shoulder all the work and the costs to complete it..

After a year of hiatus and looking for other alternatives, Russia has finally taken on the last part of the work, which crosses the economic zones and territorial waters of five countries: Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

As Miller said in July, the pipeline will reduce costs for European end consumers due to the shorter route of the gas transport system to be supplied by Nord Stream 2. It is about 2,000 kilometers less to Germany than through Ukraine.

He also argued that the pipeline meets modern environmental requirements and that carbon dioxide emissions will be 5.6 times lower than those of the transit route through Ukraine due to the reduced number of compressor stations.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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