Russia unable to complete Nord Stream 2 in expected time frame
The operator company of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline announced that there have been delays in the construction of the pipeline. On Monday, December 9, the company admitted that it will not be able to finish building the energy facility in the previously announced shorter time frame, DW reports.
“We had planned to complete the project in the next few months in accordance with all legal and technical standards,” the company said.
However, due to weather conditions, the company could not name an exact date for when the pipeline’s construction will be completed. The operator previously hoped to activate the facility by the end of 2019.
At present, 2,100 km of two lines of pipe have already been laid, and another 300 km remain. Once the pipeline has been commissioned, it will transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany every year. A similar quantity of Russian gas is piped through the Nord Stream 1, which was activated several years earlier.
The US is highly critical of Nord Stream 2, and considers it a threat to the EU’s energy security. Washington has imposed sanctions on companies involved in its construction, and has even included these sanctions in its draft defense budget.
Ukraine also considers Nord Stream 2 an instrument of the Kremlin’s political influence. However, Germany and Russia both insist that the project is exclusively economic in nature.
The Nord Stream 2 wall span the bottom of the Baltic Sea, connecting suppliers in Russia to consumers in Europe. Its planned length is more than 1,200 km and its capacity is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The project is being realized by a consortium between Russia’s Gazprom and the European companies Engie, Uniper, OMV, Shell and Wintershall.