Both Strings of Nord Stream 2 to Be Under Operating Pressure by End of 2021, Gazprom CEO Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Both strings of the Nord Stream 2 twin gas pipeline will be under operating pressure by the end of this year, Alexey Miller, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said on Thursday.

"You know that the first string of the Nord Stream-2 is already under operating pressure, and the second string will be under operating pressure by the end of this year", Miller said.

He outlined the significance of the Nord Stream 2 as a large project developed by Russia in the face of major international resistance.

On 17 December Nord Stream 2 AG, the pipeline project operator said that it had started filling the pipeline’s second string with gas.

In this April 9, 2010 file photo, a Russian construction worker speaks on a mobile phone in Portovaya Bay some 170 km (106 miles) northwest of St. Petersburg, Russia, during a ceremony marking the start of construction for the Nord Stream pipeline.

© AP Photo / Dmitry Lovetsky

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper, and Wintershall. The project is designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was completed in September and is now undergoing certification in Germany, which has been stalled by the Federal Network Agency's demand to create a German subsidiary and then file a separate bid therewith.