Gazprom has made a decision to use the overland capacity of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline to supply gas to Russians living in the northwest of the country, said the holding company's press service.
At present, the part of the pipeline that runs along the bottom of the Baltic Sea is not put into operation. To implement the program for gas infrastructure development of the Northwest region of Russia, Gazprom decided to use for this purpose the capacities of Nord Stream 2 that are already fully ready for operation.
At the same time, the holding’s representatives noted that if the German government decides to launch the pipeline, Russia will only be able to fully supply gas to Europe via one pipeline through which the load can be increased up to 100%. According to NSN citing the heads of the company, the second offshore line of the pipeline can be put into operation only in 2028.
According to Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, this decision of the holding is a correct solution of the problem. Otherwise, this overland part of the pipeline will simply stand idle. By using Nord Stream 2, which is now completely ready for operation, it will be possible to considerably increase the pace of gas supplies to Russian regions in the north-west of our country.
At the same time, on May 4th, Sergey Kupriyanov, an official representative of Gazprom, said that the company has supplied Russian regions with 791 million cubic meters, the record-breaking volume of gas for this date, because the weather was cold during the winter period.
It is stressed that the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, which was specifically built to supply gas to European countries, is fully operational. However, in February this year, Germany unilaterally decided to cancel the operation of North Stream 2.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in his speech on March 4 that Germany had already begun to buy gas, bypassing Russia. As the chancellor specified, not only gas, but also such energy resources as bituminous coal and oil continue to come from Moscow. At the same time, Scholz said that the decision to suspend the pipeline was made in time.
Scholz's decision was also supported by the Prime Minister of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Manuela Schwesig, who said on May 4 that the fund established to support NSP2 should be dissolved because cooperation with Moscow is no longer possible.
Meanwhile, the construction of Nord Stream-2 was fully completed as early as September 10 last year. Two strands of the pipeline were laid from the Russian coast along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to Germany to deliver gas directly to European consumers. Their total annual capacity is 55 billion cubic meters. However, the project was never put into operation.
Political analyst Dmitry Zhuravlev said back in late April that it was Nord Stream 2 that could pull Germany out of the “gas abyss” into which it had fallen due to its own decisions. Already in April, as francetvinfo.fr reported, Germans were forced to refuel in France, because in Germany they now have to pay an unprecedented amount, 2 euros per liter of gasoline.
However, not everyone agrees with the German government's decision to suspend the pipeline. In late April, the Zvezda TV channel reported that the leader of the Alternative for Germany party Tino Krupalla stated that for Germany the launch of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline is possible in exchange for payment for fuel in euros. In his opinion, such a deal would be “a good idea” for Germany.
For his part, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 2 that Nord Stream 2 should be put into operation as soon as possible. According to the head of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Birichevsky, in March gas prices for Europeans increased rapidly due to the fact that they refused to supply gas from Russia.
Meanwhile, on February 22, Scholz said that Germany was suspending the certification of Nord Stream 2 due to Russia's recognition of the sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR.) Just the next day, as aif.ru reported, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 AG project operator and its executives as a response to the Kremlin's actions. Apparently, the actions of European countries and the U.S. are coordinated. They are clearly pursuing their interests and objectives. Russia, on the other hand, is taking the decisions that are primarily in its national interests.
At the moment, Bulgaria and Poland were left without Russian gas because these countries failed to pay for the fuel in Russian rubles on time.