Germany Reportedly Stops Certification of Nord Stream 2 Following Order From Chancellor Scholz

The German Federal Grid Agency temporarily suspended the certification of Nord Stream 2 late last year, saying it would be impossible to approve the pipeline until the German-based portion of the infrastructure project and its employees were transferred to German jurisdiction.

The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has stopped the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Der Spiegel has reported.

The move comes after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that his contacting the country's regulator is a "necessary step" to suspend the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

"Today I asked the Federal Ministry of Economics to withdraw from the Federal Grid Agency a report on ensuring energy security. This sounds like a technical moment, but it is a necessary step so that the certification of the gas pipeline cannot take place now. Without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot be launched", Scholz told reporters on Tuesday.

He spoke as the Federal Grid Agency told Sputnik that it has no forecast about the timing of the renewal for the certification of the Nord Stream 2 operator yet.

"I cannot provide you with new data on the certification process. The certification process will be suspended until the transfer of fixed and personal assets to the subsidiary is completed", a spokesperson said.

"The certification process will be suspended until the Federal Grid Agency verifies the completeness of the subsidiary's documents. At present, we cannot predict when the procedure [of certification] can be resumed", the spokesperson added, when asked at what stage the previously suspended certification process is and whether the previously announced certification plans will change after Russia's recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics on Monday.

Prices on European natural gas futures have since surged at least 10% to over $900 per 1,000 cubic metres against the backdrop of Scholz's statement.

Russia Calls for Nord Stream 2's Certifiation

The development unfolds after Nord Stream 2 AG, the Switzerland-based operator of the gas pipeline, announced in late January that it had established a German subsidiary, in a move aimed at opening the door for the resumption of the German regulatory approval of the project.

In late 2021, Nord Stream 2 was temporarily suspended by the Federal Grid Agency, which said that approving the pipeline would be impossible until the German-based portion of the infrastructure project and its employees were transferred to German jurisdiction. The agency further required that Nord Stream 2 AG set up an independent subsidiary in Germany organised under and subject to German law.

The Russian energy giant Gazprom, in turn, expects the pipeline's certification to be completed in 2022, but not during the upcoming final months of winter and spring, when gas demand in the region is at its peak. Moscow called for the pipeline's speedy certification last year as a means to ease Europe's gas shortage, which has caused a dramatic spike in energy and heating prices for consumers and businesses across the region.

A joint venture by Gazprom and four Western European energy companies, Nord Stream 2 is a 1,230-km twin gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to complement the existing Nord Stream 1 network. The already completed pipeline, which has yet to be certified by German and European regulators, is capable of transporting up to 1.9 trillion cubic feet (55 billion cubic metres) of gas per year from Russia to Europe, thus doubling Nord Stream's capacity.