Potential Pipe Layer Revealed for Nord Stream 2

The CEO of Russia's Gazprom, Alexei Miller, has said that Saipem is one of the companies in consideration to lay the pipeline for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline extension project.

On January 13, Miller met with his counterpart at OMV Rainer Seele, to discuss areas of cooperation, including the Nord Stream 2 project, a press release from Gazprom said. 

Speaking to reporters in Moscow following that meeting, Miller said that Italy's Saipem was in the running to obtain a contract to lay the pipe for the Nord Stream 2 expansion.

"It was noted that the Italian company Saipem is one of the contenders for the contract to lay the pipeline," Sputnik reported Miller as saying.

Saipem has previously worked with Gazprom on pipeline projects, including on the first line of Nord Stream, and it was ready to work on South Stream before the project was abruptly cancelled.

In Gazprom's press release, it also said that, during the meeting, the two sides discussed how the "the growth in demand for Russian gas in Europe confirmed the importance of building this gas pipeline."

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has attracted controversy and opposition since it was first announced, with several countries, Ukraine in particular, upset by the further reduction in transit revenues.

On January 5, the Energy Community Secretariat transferred official Naftogaz Ukrainy’s complaint against the Nord Stream 2 project to the European Commission. The complaint was made on two bases: that the pipeline as envisioned now could breach the regulatory framework of the Energy Community; and that it could interfere with the proper functioning of the Energy Community gas market owing to “the significant competition concerns it poses.”

OMV and Gazprom are two of the stakeholders in the Nord Stream 2 extension; Shell, BASF, Engie, and E.ON are the remaining four.