Nord Stream 2: German authorities suspend the certification of the gas pipeline as Moscow temporizes the crisis

A German administrative authority has suspended the operating license of the Russian gas pipeline. But the Kremlin is being patient. To meet German requirements and resume certification, the operator of Nord Stream 2, based in Switzerland, has undertaken to create a subsidiary under German law. A new twist in the pharaonic Nord Stream 2 project. Germany, which has just formed a new coalition in power after the Merkel era, announced on Tuesday, via its federal network agency, the temporary suspension of the approval procedure for Nord Steam 2. In cause, Berlin cites a legal obstacle. According to several government sources quoted by Reuters, this means that the commissioning of the 1,230-kilometer pipeline, which is going to double Russia’s gas export capacity to Europe via the Baltic Sea, will be postponed to March 2022. Officially completed in September, after five years of work, the pipeline should allow Russia to export 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, or half of its deliveries to Europe.

However the certification of Nord Stream 2, which is one of the final steps before its commissioning, “is only possible if the operator is organized under a legal form of German law,” the authority wrote in a statement.

“We can not intervene in this,” says Moscow

In the aftermath, the Russian reaction was not long to come and Moscow chose to temporize. “The certification of Nord Stream 2 is quite a complicated process, and we knew that from the beginning,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at his daily press interview.

“From the very beginning, it was clear that we had to be patient. We, as the Russian side, are convinced that the project itself is important for Europe, it is important for us and for European consumers,” he said. The Kremlin’s spokesman said that the rest is up to the German regulator: “we can’t interfere in this.”

To meet German requirements and take over certification, the Swiss-based operator of Nord Stream 2 is in the process of creating a subsidiary under German law.

In the previous government, the Russian-German relationship was encouraged. In February, German Economics Minister Peter Altmaier – now acting in the interim while awaiting the formation of the new government – said it was not a good idea to constantly question this undersea gas pipeline project, which is intended to allow Russia to supply Germany bypassing Ukraine.

Germany was then under pressure to abandon this project, particularly because of the tensions arising from the situation of the Russian opponent Alexei Navalny.

Other opponents of the project argue that Europeans are dependent on their geopolitical adversary Russia for gas. It will also eventually deprive Ukraine, an ally of Moscow, of gas transit rights crucial to its economy.

This latest decision has triggered a new surge in gas prices.

Other experts are questioning Gazprom’s ability to supply its export customers as winter approaches and stocks are low.