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Nord Stream 2: a Pyrrhic victory for Gazprom

Denmark finally agreed to let the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline cross its territorial waters, to supply Northern Europe. However, the victory of the Russian gas giant Gaprom is only apparent.

The last obstacle seems to have been lifted for Nord Stream 2: Denmark allows the new Russian gas pipeline to cross the Baltic via its territorial waters. The work has been delayed, but it will be able to continue along the original route - the maintenance of the Copenhagen veto would have forced the Russian pipeline to bypass Denmark, it would have been necessary beforehand to ask the authorization of Germany and the Sweden, which would have further delayed the completion of the infrastructure.

Nord Stream 2 is now more than 90% complete. There is not much left for it to come into operation, perhaps by the end of next year.

Regulatory hurdles to Russian gas molecules

Yet this is not a real victory for Gazprom. Only one of the two pipes of Nord Stream 2 will ultimately be supplied with gas by the Russian giant (27 billion m3 instead of 55 billion m3 per year).

Between the achievements of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, European regulations have changed. Brussels now forbids the same supplier to use more than half of the capacity of the new gas infrastructure.

Gazprom also comes in September to be banned by the European Court of Justice from using 100% of the Opal gas pipeline that already extends Nord Stream 1 in Germany, because that would make Germany too dependent on a single supplier and to oblige its European neighbors, by virtue of the principle of solidarity, to come to its aid in case of interruption of supplies.

" Nord Stream 2 will never see the day in its desired form by the Russians "

" As much as Nord Stream 1 was a priority European project , says Thierry Bros, associate researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies - at that time a new route for Russian gas from Ukraine was needed after several gas cuts the growing hostility between Kiev and Moscow. As much Nord Stream 2 is a Russian project that aims to totally oust Ukraine, which is to reconcentrate the gas routes . "By removing the passage to Ukraine a major source of income, which Europe refuses.

" Nord Stream 2 will never see the day in its desired form by the Russians , summarizes the expert. They will have paid 9 billion dollars for something that will be worth 5 billion ... Maybe they will turn against the European partner companies who have not done their due diligence work on this issue . "

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