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Nord Stream 2 not confirming reports pipeline to be completed on August 23

"The pipeline is already more than 99% completed, and we will reveal the pipelaying completion in due time," the press service of Nord Stream 2 AG informed

© Alexander Demianchuk/TASS

GENEVA, August 19. /TASS/. The Nord Stream 2 AG company labelled media reports saying that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be completed on August 23 as ‘speculations’. A source in the company told TASS on Thursday that it "cannot confirm" this information.

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Gas supplies via Nord Stream 2 to equal 5.6 bln cubic meters in 2021, says Gazprom

"We cannot confirm the speculations launched by some media outlets regarding the dates, as well as misinterpretation concerning the completion of pipelaying and construction of the whole pipeline. The pipeline is already more than 99% completed, and we will reveal the pipelaying completion in due time," the press service of Nord Stream 2 AG said in a written reply to TASS request.

In this respect, the press service focused on an interview by Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper conducted with Managing Director of Nord Stream 2 AG Matthias Warnig in July. The publication contained information about "the completion of pipelaying and the necessary commissioning that will follow," the company stressed.

According to the interview provided by the press service of Nord Stream 2 AG, Warnig said: "We expect the construction work to be finished by the end of August." When asked how long the testing and certification would take, he said that it is expected to take 2-3 months for each line, and that work on the completed line is already underway.

A number of media outlets reported earlier citing the German media giant Deutsche Welle that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be completed on August 23.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two pipelines with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The works were suspended in December 2019 after the Swiss Allseas abandoned pipe-laying due to possible US sanctions. In December 2020, the construction of the pipeline resumed.

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