Nord Stream 2 launch will immediately allow Europe to get additional gas volumes. Photo: Website of the President of the RF
As soon as the German regulator "greenlights" the launch of the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which, by the way, is already filled with gas, European countries will immediately be able to get not only the contracted gas volumes, but also the additional ones. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the second string of the controversial gas pipeline will be fully filled with fuel until around mid-December this year.
During his speech, cited by Interfax, the head of state also called the gas crisis in Europe "an artificial result of the European Commission economic policy." Putin also noted that unlike other suppliers—American and Middle Eastern ones, Russia had increased its supplies to European countries by 8.7%.
Gazprom has increased supplies to the European market. Does everyone hear me well or not? They cut them down for you, but we increase them... And Gazprom does not make superprofits. We do not cry about this because we are interested in long-term contracts and long-term mutual obligations. And after that we provide an opportunity to invest in production and provide the necessary volumes for our consumers—stably and reliably," he stressed.
Context. As a reminder, Russia initially planned that Nord Stream 2 would be completed in 2019. However, the American sanctions hindered this. Finally, the project was completed on September 10 this year.
Now it remains for the Russian Federation to obtain gas pipeline certification. Shortly after completing construction work, the German Federal Network Agency got the documents for certification of Nord Stream 2 AG as an independent gas transmission operator.
The other day, the Kremlin announced its readiness to increase gas transit through the territory of Ukraine, but under certain conditions. Gazprom's European clients should increase their purchases, while Kyiv should offer competitive conditions.
We recall that on the morning of October 1, Gazprom stopped the gaz transit to Hungary through Ukraine. As noted in the message of the GTS Operator of Ukraine, this happened even despite the fact that the Ukrainian capacities in the Hungarian direction were contracted until September 30, 2022 with a volume of more than 24.5 million cubic meters per day.