Hardly any pipeline project in recent years has been as politically controversial in Europe as Nord Stream 2. Poland and the Baltic states fear that this will make the European Union too dependent on Russian gas.

And they criticize the fact that Ukraine is being bypassed as a transit country.

After commissioning, Kiev would probably be short of several billion euros in revenue from transmission fees each year.

Othmara glass

volunteer

  • Follow I follow

Ever since Russia massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with Ukraine at the end of last year, Kiev and its western allies have feared a direct military confrontation.

In Germany, meanwhile, a discussion about dependence on Russian gas has flared up.

Because the state-controlled company Gazprom delivered less gas in 2021, the gas storage facilities in Germany are far less full than in previous years.

Deliveries are a problem.

Gazprom operates what it claims to be the largest gas storage facility in Europe and has shares in three other gas storage facilities.

Gazprom also operates the lines to these storage facilities indirectly through joint projects.

The oil company Rosneft, which is also state-controlled, has interests in refineries and oil pipelines in Germany.

According to the Federal Network Agency, which is responsible for regulating gas pipelines, Gazprom has stakes in four transmission system operators.

One of them is Nord Stream AG, which owns the Nord Stream pipeline, which went into operation in 2011.

According to Gazprom, this delivered more than 58 billion cubic meters of gas every year between 2018 and 2020 directly from Russia to Lubmin near Greifswald.

However, the group only owns 51 percent of the shares in Nord Stream AG.

The stock corporations Wintershall Dea and PEG Infrastructure, which belongs to EON, each hold 15.5 percent.

The Dutch NV Nederlandse Gasunie and the French energy supplier Engie each hold 9 percent.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline runs largely parallel to its predecessor.

So far it is 100% owned by Gazprom.

This is problematic because according to the European Union's Gas Directive, the operation of a pipeline and the sale of the gas must be separate.

Gazprom established a German subsidiary in Schwerin on Wednesday.

This means that the first hurdle to final certification of the approximately 54-kilometer German pipeline section by the Federal Network Agency has been cleared.

"German gas market is a special case"

Germany receives a good third of all Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe.

In 2020 it was 56.3 billion cubic meters, according to BP's "Statistic Review of World Energy".

Deliveries from Russia account for more than half of all natural gas imports.

With a share of a good 27 percent in the energy mix, gas is the second most important energy source.

The Federal Ministry of Economics states on its website that the German gas network is 511,000 kilometers long.

The dense distribution network that brings gas to the end consumer is therefore usually owned by municipal energy supply companies such as public utilities, but also by large energy companies such as EON.

On the other hand, a little more than a dozen larger companies act as transmission system operators, four of which belong to Gazprom, among others.