Nord Stream 2 Operator Feels No Intention by EU to Block Project

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The Nord Stream 2 company, which is responsible for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, does not perceive any intention by the EU Commission to block the construction of the pipeline, the company’s spokesman, Jens Mueller, said Wednesday.

"We do not see the European Union’s pressure on the four countries – Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, whose exclusive economic zones will be used for the installation of the pipeline. We know that it is necessary to fulfill all the requirements of EU legislation. We do not feel the EU Commission’s intention to block the project, only its intention to make it [the project] correspond fully to the [relevant] EU laws," Mueller told RIA Novosti.

Gazprom and its partner companies signed a shareholders agreement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in September 2015. The prospective shareholders are Gazprom itself, with 50 percent of the shares, Germany's Uniper SE and BASF/Wintershall (10 percent each), Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell (10 percent), Austria's OMV AG (10 percent) and France's Engie (10 percent).

Nord Stream 2 could provide up to 55 billion cubic meters of direct gas supplies from Russian shores through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Baltic states and Poland, to the German coast.