MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is critical for satisfying European consumers’ increasing demand for Russian gas in the future taking into consideration declining production in Europe, Russia’s Gazprom said in a report published after negotiations between the company’s Chairman of management committee Alexey Miller and members of Shell’s executive committee Harry Brekelmans, Maarten Wetselaar and Ronan Cassidy.

The negotiations focused on a wide range of issues related to strategic partnership, the report said.

Particularly, the sides gave a high estimate to implementation of Sakhalin 2 project. It was noted that in 2015 production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the plant within the project totaled 10.8 mln tons, exceeding its project capacity by 1.2 mln tons.

According to the report, the negotiating parties discussed works on the plant’s expansion, and noted that the experience obtained during implementation of Sakhalin 2 project, will be of service in future joint projects of the 2 companies.

Also, the sides discussed issues related to asset swap.