UA
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DERussia’s gas monopoly Gazprom stated that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline had been completed.
“During a morning briefing at Gazprom, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee, announced that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was fully completed at 8:45 a.m. (Moscow time) earlier this morning,” reads the statement.
On 6 September, the last pipe of the pipeline’s second line was welded. After that, it was necessary to connect the section of the gas pipeline running from the coast of Germany with the section extending from the waters of Denmark.
The first line was completed in early June.
As a reminder, on 2 September, Alexey Miller stated that the first deliveries via Nord Stream 2 could start this year.
At the same time, Ukraine continues to insist that the pipeline is the Kremlin’s economic weapon against Ukraine, Europe, and the United States.
The Nord Stream 2 project provides for the operation of two lines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the Russian coast to Germany across the Baltic Sea. After the gas pipeline is completed, Russia receives the infrastructure for gas transit to Western Europe, completely bypassing Ukraine. According to preliminary estimates, transit through Ukraine may drop to a critically low level of 18 billion cubic metres of gas.
According to the EU Gas Directive, half of the Nord Stream 2 capacity must be reserved for alternative suppliers.
Bohdan Marusyak
