According to the Russian gas company Gazprom, the controversial Baltic Sea gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 was completed in September 2021 and is not yet in operation. The pipeline has not yet been certified and has not been approved by the responsible authorities. According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Tuesday, this process has now stopped.
The 1,230-kilometer double strand runs from Vyborg in western Russia to Lubmin near Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). Both lines have been completely filled with technical gas since the end of December. The pipeline, whose construction began in 2018, is to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Germany in the future, the construction costs have so far been given as more than ten billion euros.
Nord Stream 2 runs parallel to Nord Stream 1, which became operational at the end of 2011. Their construction was agreed in 2005. According to the operating consortium Nord Stream AG, a good 59 billion cubic meters of natural gas were transported in 2021, which meant almost 100 percent utilization. Since 2011, more than 441 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas have reached Lubmin.
The project company Nord Stream 2 AG, based in Zug, Switzerland, is a subsidiary of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. Pipeline investors include German groups Wintershall Dea and Uniper, Dutch-British Shell, Austrian energy company OMV and Engie from France. (Source: dpa)