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Gazprom, its partners will decide on Nord Stream 2 project in nearest months

Engie, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall continue their participation in the project

ST. PETERSBURG, September 12. /TASS/. Gazprom and its partners will make a decision on further implementation of Nord Stream 2 project in the nearest months, Chairman of Management Committee Alexey Miller said Monday.

"All partners participating from the very beginning will continue their participation in the project. They have confirmed their participation to Gazprom. As for particular patterns of the project’s implementation I think we’ll take the final decision literally in the nearest months," he said.

Earlier Gazprom and its European partners (Engie, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall) applied to German and Polish antimonopoly regulators on setting up a joint venture for implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project. Germany approved the decision while the Polish regulator raised objections, saying that such a JV would restrain competition. Later, the companies recalled the application to the Polish regulator.

In this respect, Alexey Miller said that Gazprom together with its partners planned to define a new pattern of the project’s financing by the end of this year.

Nord Stream 2 is the construction project of the natural gas pipeline with the capacity of 55 bln cubic meters from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The route and the entry point to the German gas transport system in Greifswald are intended to be the same as for the first Nord Stream gas pipeline launched in 2011. It is planned that the Nord Stream-2 will be put into operation in late 2019. Capital expenditures are estimated at 8 bln euros while the project’s total cost (together with attraction of project financing) is 9.9 bln euros.

The Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG has been set up for planning, construction and running of the two lines of the pipeline. Gazprom owns 100% of the company’s shares at the moment.