Nord Stream 2 Construction to Wrap Up ‘Next Week’ - OMV Head

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will likely be completed this month, Rainer Seele, the head of the Austrian oil giant OMV, told the Russian Vedomosti newspaper.

Asked when construction will be finished, Seele said "next week," adding that gas could start flowing before the end of 2021.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the Nord Stream 2 project was nearing completion, and that it was going to play a very important role in ensuring European energy security.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said in mid-August that it could deliver 5.6 billion cubic meters of gas through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline already this year.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Gazprom and five European partners. The pipeline aims to carry Russian natural gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea. It consists of two 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) long lines with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas.

Seele told Vedomosti that the project’s costs were cut down from the initial estimated sum of 950 million euros ($1.1 billion) to 729 million euros, thanks to speedier construction.