The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA) has temporarily suspended the approval process of Nord Stream 2 AG as an independent gas transmission network operator, requiring the operator to be organised in a legal form under German law. The Nord Stream 2 consortium, a Switzerland-based company that comprises Gazprom (50%), Uniper, Shell, OMV, Wintershall, and Engie (10% each), will create a Germany-based subsidiary to secure an operating licence and to own and operate the German section of the pipeline. The certification process will remain on hold until the transfer of assets and human resources to the subsidiary has been complete. Then, the energy regulator is expected to review the project for a maximum period of four months and decide or not to award it an operating license.
The construction of the €9.5bn (US$11bn) Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline started in May 2018 and was completed in September 2021, doubling the throughput of the current Nord Stream route between Vyborg (Russia) and Greifswald (Germany), from 55 bcm/year to 110 bcm/year. In August 2021, the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court refused to exempt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from the application of the renewed EU Gas Directive (the ruling can be appealed). The rules require the owners of pipelines to be different from the suppliers of the gas that flows in them to ensure fair competition.