Germany suspends the opening of the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 | Financial

Scholz said he would not provide certification for the commissioning of the pipeline, which has already been completed but is still awaiting formal approval from the German government.

Nordstream 2 can transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany. The pipeline is 1200 kilometers long and crosses the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

American opponent

The United States has always vehemently opposed the project, as has Ukraine. According to the United States, Germany and Europe are becoming too dependent on Russian natural gas with the pipeline.

US President Biden previously said in a press conference with Scholz that Nord Stream 2 would not go into service if Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky has already called for Nord Stream 2 to be “stopped immediately”. In Germany, the call to cancel Nord Stream 2 was already getting louder.

Half of the investment in the pipeline was made by the Russian state energy company Gazprom. The rest of the nearly 10 billion euros in total will be provided by Engie, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall.

The first Nord Stream pipeline was opened in 2011 and in 2015 it was decided to build Nord Stream 2 to increase capacity.

Dependent

Europe is about 40% dependent on Russia for gas supplies, energy experts at ABN Amro have previously calculated. Russia now mainly supplies gas through pipelines passing through Ukraine and Belarus. With the Nord Stream, Germany can buy gas directly from Russia.

Plans for the first Nord Stream were put together by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The Social Democrat had long enjoyed good relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Schröder is now a supervisor at the Russian state group Rosneft and Gazprom.