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Russian energy minister says Nord Stream 2 project’s route expected to remain unchanged

Despite the existing resistance to Nord Stream 2, many countries support the implementation of the project, the Russian energy minister noted

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Russia’s Energy Ministry expects the Nord Stream 2 project to be implemented in the applied variant despite the delay with Denmark’s issue of permit, Minister Alexander Novak said at a session of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday.

"The project is being implemented, we are expecting the decision of the Kingdom of Denmark on issuance of permit. Clearly, there are other options in case of the lack of such a permission as well, the only thing is that the project will be slightly more expensive and will take longer to be implemented. Nevertheless, we still expect the project to be implemented in the route, on which permission request was applied. We see no grounds for failing to issue such a permission," he said.

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Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 83% complete, Gazprom says

Despite the existing resistance to Nord Stream 2, many countries support the implementation of the project, Novak noted. "That is indeed a long-term project that will ensure reliable energy supplies to the European Union," he emphasized.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries - Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. Denmark is the only country that has not yet issued permit for the pipeline construction in its territorial waters.

Chief Financial Officer of Nord Stream 2 AG (operator of Nord Stream 2 project) Paul Corcoran said earlier that the delay in receiving Denmark’s permit for the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline could postpone the commissioning of the project until 2020. Chairman of the Austrian OMV Rainer Seele also said he did not rule out delaying the launch of Nord Stream 2 due to Denmark's position. Meanwhile, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller suggests that the Danish section of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline can be built in a maximum of five weeks, regardless of the route.

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