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Work on filling 2nd string of Nord Stream 2 will be completed in December — Putin

The Russian president added that Russia is ready to start gas supplies the next day after receiving the appropriate permission from the German regulator

© Peter Kovalev/TASS

SOCHI, October 21. /TASS/. Technical work on filling the second string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with gas will be completed in mid or late December this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, speaking at a meeting of the Valdai International Club.

He added that Russia is ready to start gas supplies the following day after receiving the appropriate permission from the German regulator.

"The first pipe of Nord Stream 2 is filled with gas. If tomorrow the German regulator gives permission for the supply, the day after tomorrow the delivery will start, 17.5 billion cubic meters. By the end of this year - in the middle, at the end of December - technical work on filling the second gas pipe of Nord Stream 2 will be completed. In total, this is 55 billion cubic meters," Putin said.

"Considering that the gas shortage on the European market, according to our calculations, will amount to 70 billion cubic meters, 55 billion cubic meters is a good volume. As soon as the second pipe is filled and as soon as the permission of the German regulator is received, the next day we will start deliveries," Putin said.

The head of state recalled that the volume of carbon dioxide emissions during transportation through Nord Stream 2 is 5.6 times less than when delivering gas through the gas transportation system of Ukraine.

Putin also noted that although the carbon component of Russian gas is three times less than that of American liquefied natural gas, environmentalists do not demand the closure of all LNG terminals. The same situation applies to the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

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