Austrian energy company OMV has claimed that there was still a realistic chance to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project within schedule.
Chief executive of Austrian oil and gas group OMV Rainer Seele said that the Gazprom-led gas pipeline project across the Baltic Sea to Europe responded to speculations that the project might face month-long delays.
When asked if a launch of the pipeline at the end of this year or in early 2020 was still realistic, Seele said: “ The Nord Stream 2 company has clearly informed us that it is sticking to the schedule and the budget, and we have no reason to revise the plan in any way today. ”
According to Seele, more than 75 percent of Nord Stream 2 has been completed so far.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline system consists of two approximately 1,230-kilometers-long pipelines, each made up of some 100,000 pipe joints.
The pipeline was designed as two parallel 48-inch lines, roughly 1,200 kilometers long, each starting from south-west of St. Petersburg and ending at German coast, Greifswald.
Nord Stream 2’s natural gas pipelines will have the capacity to transport 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas a year to the EU, for at least 50 years.