EU Gas Import Rules to Raise Price Tag for Nord Stream 2 - Austrian Stakeholder

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A change in EU gas import rules will not delay or raise the cost of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the chief executive of Austria’s OMV, which has a stake in the project, said in an interview out Monday.

Rainer Seele said speculations about the project’s higher price were "nonsense," according to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. He emphasized that Germany had lawfully granted a permit to extend the nearly 746-mile-long natural gas pipeline into its territory and would not have the project torpedoed months before it is completed.

READ MORE: Halting Implementation of Nord Stream 2 Project 'Impossible' — Bundestag Member

The remarks come after last week the European Commission announced a provisional deal to amend the bloc’s rules governing the internal gas market to apply them to pipelines from other countries. This includes making sure that a gas producer is not also the pipeline’s majority owner.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russian gas giant Gazprom and five European companies. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas annually to the European Union. The pipeline project has been welcomed by some countries in Europe and opposed by the others who raise concerns over the alleged danger of Europe's dependence on Russia and the subsequent diminished transit role of Ukraine.