updates
Condition for Certification
Nord Stream 2 founds German subsidiary
01/26/2022, 5:29 p.m
Nord Stream 2’s certification is currently on hold. The Federal Network Agency had made it a condition that a German company was needed to operate the pipeline. This is now being established.
The subsidiary required for the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has been founded. The gas transport company Gas for Europe GmbH is based in Schwerin, as the company announced. The Federal Network Agency suspended a certification process in November and issued a corresponding condition.
Gas for Europe will own and operate the German part of the pipeline, the statement said. This includes the approximately 54-kilometer-long section of pipeline in German territorial waters and the landing station in Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Reinhard Ontyd was appointed managing director. He had worked in the management of various energy companies. According to Gas for Europe, it will now focus all its efforts on meeting the requirements for the continuation of the certification process.
The Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany has been completed but is not in operation. Certification of an independent transport network operator by the Federal Network Agency is still pending. The Bonn authorities stopped the procedure in November and pointed out that the transport network operator had to be a company under German law. Nord Stream 2 AG is based in Zug, Switzerland. About 55 billion cubic meters of gas are expected to flow through the pipeline each year.
When does certification resume?
According to its own statements, the Federal Network Agency cannot currently predict when the procedure can be resumed. “The certification process will remain suspended until the transfer of the main assets and human resources to the subsidiary has been completed and the Federal Network Agency will be able to check the subsidiary’s documents for completeness,” said the authority.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was built in addition to the existing pipeline, is highly controversial. The USA, but also Eastern European EU countries, have sharply criticized the primarily German-Russian project. They point to Germany’s increasing dependence on Russian gas, but also to a possible strategic disadvantage for Ukraine, through which a large part of the gas supplies to Europe have so far passed.