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Germany, France coming to terms on Nord Stream 2 and EU directive — agency

© Bernd Wuestneck/dpa via AP

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Press review: Tokyo talks peace but seeks military might and Germany shields Nord Stream 2

BRUSSELS, February 8. /TASS/. Berlin and Paris has settled their dispute regarding the Nord Stream 2 and reached a tradeoff on amendments to the EU Gas Directive, suggesting their new version not blocking the pipeline project, AFP news agency reported on Friday, citing the received German-French draft of the accommodating paper.

The paper makes it possible to avoid the crisis between Paris and Berlin and will enable France to support amendments to the EU Gas Directive, the agency says.

The essence of the proposal of Germany and France is that the country with the point of gas intake from the offshore pipeline in its territory will acquire the right to select the formula for application of EU Gas Directive provisions and possible exceptions from it. Germany is such country in case of Nord Stream 2.

About Project

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come into service at the end of 2019. The pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore.

It will go through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries - Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, thus bypassing transit countries of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic states. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The total cost of the project has been estimated at 9.5 bln euro.

Nord Stream 2 AG, with Gazprom being the only shareholder, is the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction project. Gazprom's European partners in the project are Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie and Royal Dutch Shell.

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