August 2021 may be marked by a major event. Construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is expected to be completed this month. It is not the first time we hear about construction deadlines.
Several Russian officials of different ranks have promised to take the pipeline in operation since 2018, but its launch was postponed and construction stopped. This time the construction may meet the actual deadline. “I would like to keep my fingers crossed for the Nord Stream 2 construction work [to] be completed at the end of August”, the OMV Group CEO Rainer Seele said at a press briefing on the second-quarter results. “So, we believe that the gas may be flowing this year”, Seele added.
The OMV Group is Gazprom's partner and Rainer Seele obtains all the details on the project. The Nord Stream 2 AG CEO Matthias Warnig said in an interview with Handelsblatt that some 98% of the pipeline had been completed and the remaining two percent concern the second string. He added that testing and certification would take two to three months for each line.
During the negotiations, participants succeeded in overpassing the main roadblocks – US sanctions and criticism. Washington and Berlin reached a deal regarding the pipeline which paved the way to the problem resolution. Following the deal, Germany took a number of obligations on the pipeline operation. It is obliged to protect the natural gas transit through Ukraine after 2024.
