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Nord Stream 2 project beneficial for Czech Republic - Ministry of Industry and Trade

After the new gas pipeline is put into operation, the amount of gas transit through the country is expected to nearly double

PRAGUE, September 23. /TASS/. The Nord Stream 2 project is beneficial for the Czech Republic, Spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade Milan Repka said, as cited by the Mlada Fronta Dnes daily.

"The Czech Republic will benefit from this project," he stressed. After the new gas pipeline is put into operation, the amount of gas transit through the country is expected to nearly double.

At the same time, according to Repka, the Czech Repulbic believes it is important to maintain the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine so that there are various routes to deliver gas to the European Union.

Nord Stream 2 project

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is scheduled to be put into operation in late 2019. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The pipeline, set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore, is expected to connect the Russian resource base with European customers. The total project cost of the Nord Stream 2 is estimated at €9.9 bln.

The gas pipeline will not cross transit countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, running through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

Russia and Germany have many times stressed that Nord Stream 2 was only a commercial project and was not politically motivated. However, in April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel mentioned some political factors related to the project’s implementation. According to her, gas transit through Ukraine should continue even after the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is built. Russian President Vladimir Putin said later that the project’s implementation did not imply the end of the Ukrainian gas transit if it proved economically feasible.

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