During a morning briefing at Gazprom, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee, announced that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was fully completed at 8:45 am (Moscow time) earlier this morning.

Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany was set to be completed within days and come on stream.

But in order to begin shipping gas to Germany, Nord Stream 2 will need the go-ahead from the German regulator via an operational license.

Last month, a German court ruled that Nord Stream 2 will have to obey European Union regulations that separate owners of the pipelines from suppliers of gas, dealing a blow to Gazprom, who sought to have EU rules waived for the controversial pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind the pipeline, said today that after the mechanical completion of the construction, “the required pre-commissioning activities will be carried out with the goal to put the pipeline into operation before the end of this year.”

KeyFacts Energy: Gazprom Russia country profile