Launching the completed Nord Stream 2 in October deems unrealistic

The Stralsund Mining Authority in Germany announced the status of preparations for gas supplies via Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Representatives of the authority said that they did not have the required documents to launch the pipeline.

A representative of the German department said that the German regulator could not issue a permit for the intake of natural gas until the data on the sealing capacity, strength and availability of necessary safety devices for the two strings of the gas pipeline was provided.

"For the time being, such documents have not been provided yet," a representative for the department told RIA Novosti news agency.

Earlier, Klaus Ernst, the head of the Bundestag Committee on Economics and Energy, expressed doubts about the launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on October 1. According to him, such a date did not look realistic as it would take from several weeks to several months to obtain all necessary certificates for the gas pipeline to be launched.

On September 10, at 8:45 Moscow time, the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, announced that the construction of the gas pipeline had been fully completed.

• On September 6, the operator of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, announced the welding of the last pipe in the Baltic Sea.
• On September 8, Bloomberg, citing its own sources, reported that gas shipments via Nord Stream 2 would start on October 1.
• The two strings of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline stretch to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
• The gas pipeline has the length of 1,234 kilometers and a throughput capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year.