German Regulator to Decide on Nord Stream 2 AG Certification Bid No Later Than 8 January

BERLIN (Sputnik) - The German Federal Network Agency (BNA) has received all necessary documents on Nord Stream 2 AG’s bid for certification as an independent operator of a gas pipeline and will issue its decision no later than 8 January 2022, the BNA’s press office told Sputnik on Monday.

Nord Stream 2 AG applied for the certification in June.

"The Federal Network Agency of Germany announced today that Nord Stream 2 AG has submitted all the documents required for verification by the agency. Thus, the Federal Network Agency has four months to prepare a draft decision and submit it to the European Commission," the BNA said.

The four-month verification period started on 8 September, thus the deadline is set for 8 January of the next 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.