Nord Stream 2 pipeline

In news- The Nord Stream 2 is being used as a bargaining chip by the West to force Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine.

About Nord Stream 2 pipeline–

The 1,200-km pipeline will run from Ust-Luga in Russia (Leningrad Region) to Greifswald in Germany through the Baltic Sea.
The total capacity of two strings of Nord Stream 2 is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
It is implemented by the Nord Stream 2 AG project company.
In 2015, Gazprom and 5 other European energy firms decided to build Nord Stream 2, valued at around $11 billion.
It will run along the already-completed Nord Stream 1 system, making the aggregate design capacity of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
This project is designed to double the amount of natural gas flowing from Russia straight to Germany.
Work on the pipeline finished in September 2021.
But Gazprom is still awaiting approval from European regulators before it can open the taps and start pumping gas.

Critics say the pipeline is a tool of Russian foreign policy – and there has been strong opposition from the US, Ukraine and Poland.
The US fears the pipeline makes Europe much more dependent on Russian energy, handing significant power over Berlin and the EU to the Russian President.

Nord Stream 1-

Nord Stream, the longest subsea pipeline, is an export gas pipeline which runs under the Baltic Sea carrying gas from Russia to Europe.
The gas for Nord Steam comes mainly from the Bovanenkovo oil and gas condensate deposit in Western Siberia.
It was completed in 2011 and runs from Vyborg in Leningrad to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany.
The pipeline’s significance comes from the fact that it bypasses transit countries, making it highly reliable for European customers.
It crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.
In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.