UPDATE: Russia’s Gazprom sure of N Stream-2 proj implementation

(Adds comments by OMV CEO in third paragraph)

VIENNA, Jan 20 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom is convinced that a project to build the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline will be implemented, as it is beneficial both for the firm and European consumers, Viktor Zubkov, chairman of the board of directors, said at a gas conference Wednesday.

“West Europe will need additional gas supplies, which can be ensured through new branches of the Nord Stream pipeline as well… It is beneficial and equally necessary both for the supplier and European consumers. We believe, we know that the Nord Stream-2 project will be implemented,” he said.

Austria’s OMV CEO Rainer Seele said he believed the Nord Stream-2 project required a more serious support in Europe. It is necessary to boost efforts to convince the European Commission that the project is beneficial to Europe, he said.

In September 2015, Gazprom signed a shareholder agreement on the 55-billion-cubic-meter Nord Stream-2 pipeline, which encompasses laying two more lines of the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea to the shore of Germany.

The agreement was signed with Germany’s E.ON and BASF/Wintershall, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, which will own 10% each, and France’s Engie, which will get a 9% stake.

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