Germany's Federal Network Agency (BNA) said on Friday that it was rejecting the Nord Stream 2 AG's application for derogation from the EU Gas Directive due to the fact that it understands the term 'completion' differently, and EU member states and Poland's state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG also do not agree with the pipeline operator
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) Germany's Federal Network Agency (BNA) said on Friday that it was rejecting the Nord Stream 2 AG's application for derogation from the EU Gas Directive due to the fact that it understands the term 'completion' differently, and EU member states and Poland's state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG also do not agree with the pipeline operator.
Earlier in the day, the BNA rejected the application to liberate the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for carrying Russian gas to Europe from the requirements of the renewed directive. The BNA said that the pipeline would be subject to "German regulatory requirements and European rules on unbundling, network access and cost regulation", since it was not completed by May 23, 2019. The Nord Stream 2 AG slammed the decision as discriminatory, not ruling out the possibility to appeal it in court.
"The responsible ruling chamber of the Bundesnetzagentur understands the term "completion" in a constructional/technical sense. The applicant, by contrast, believes it to mean completion in an economically functional sense and refers to the investment decision, which was made well before 23 May 2019," the BNA said in a press release.
"All European Union Member States had the opportunity to examine Nord Stream 2 AG's application, with its annexes, and to submit a response. Responses to the consultation were taken into account in the decision, as was the joint statement submitted by PGNiG S.A. and PGNiG Supply & Trading GmbH ... Neither any of the Member States nor the parties summoned shared the viewpoint of Nord Stream 2 AG as regards the term "completion"," the press release read on.
