MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Germany’s Minister of Economy and Energy Peter Altmaier discussed by telephone the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the supply of Russian gas through Ukraine, the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement.
"During the conversation, the ministers discussed various aspects of energy cooperation, including the prospects for Russian gas supplies through Ukraine, as well as key issues of the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project," according to the statement. No further details of the conversation were disclosed.
On December 12, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the report "On the Implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement," which condemned the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline of being a political project that poses a threat to Europe’s energy security and efforts on diversification of energy supply sources. In accordance with the resolution, the European Parliament is requesting the cancellation of the project.
In late November, it was reported that about 300 km of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline had already been laid.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come into service at the end of 2019. The pipeline is set to run along the Russian Baltic Sea coast bed to the German shore. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The new pipeline will double the capacity of the first stretch and will basically follow its route. The total cost of the pipeline is estimated at 9.5 bln euro.
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said earlier that if the construction of the pipeline is completed in compliance with the schedule, gas supplies via Nord Stream 2 may start on January 1, 2020.