(Updates with latest events)
Aug 25 (Reuters) - As the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline nears
completion, a German court has ruled that is not exempt from
European Union rules requiring the owners of pipelines to be
different from the suppliers of the gas that flows in them to
ensure fair competition.
The Gazprom-led $11 billion project to carry
Russian gas under the Baltic sea to Germany has faced political
opposition from Washington as well as from Ukraine and Poland,
which stand to lose out on lucrative transit fees if the
pipeline goes into operation.
Here are some significant moments in Nord Stream 2's
development:
2011
November: Gazprom and Western partners look into expanding
the Nord Stream pipeline system by a further 55 billion cubic
metres at an initial estimated cost of 9.5 billion euros ($11.3
billion).
2015
June: Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, E.ON,
OMV, Wintershall and ENGIE agree
to build the pipeline.
2016
March: Eight EU governments object on geopolitical grounds.
2017
April: Financing agreements are signed.
2018
January: Germany grants permits for construction and
operation.
2019
January: The U.S. ambassador to Germany says companies
involved in NS 2 could face sanctions.
December: Swiss-Dutch company Allseas suspends pipe-laying.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs a defence policy bill
including sanctions.
2020
May: Germany's energy regulator declines to grant a waiver
of EU gas directives to the operators, while an EU court also
throws out a challenge to the rules.
Sept. 3: Pressure mounts on Berlin to reconsider support
after the alleged nerve agent attack on Kremlin critic Alexei
Navalny.
Sept. 23: The world's largest group of shipping insurers
says it will not insure vessels involved in NS 2.
Oct. 1: Denmark gives NS 2 permission to operate in Danish
waters.
Dec. 3: The United States unveils a bill targeting companies
and individuals helping NS 2.
Dec. 28: NS 2 says it has completed the 2.6 km section in
German waters.
2021
Jan 20: Trump on his last full day in office imposes
sanctions on Russian pipe-laying ship Fortuna.
German environmental groups file complaints with maritime
regulator BSH, effectively preventing further work in Germany
for the time being.
Jan. 21: The European parliament passes a resolution calling
for a stop to NS 2 completion in response to the arrest of
Navalny in Russia.
Jan. 24: Fortuna resumes work in Danish waters.
April 22: The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
advances a bill to pressure companies helping to build NS 2.
May 19: The U.S. State Department waives sanctions around
participants of Nord Stream 2, saying it was in the U.S.
national interest.
June 4: President Vladimir Putin says Russia has finished
laying the first line of the pipeline to Germany.
June 7: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says
completion of Nord Stream 2 is a "fait accompli", defending the
U.S. decision to waive some sanctions and vowing a response if
Moscow tries to use gas as a weapon.
June 10: Nord Stream 2 says the project will start
preparations to fill the first of two pipelines with natural gas
within a few months.
July 22: The United States and Germany announce an agreement
on NS 2 under which Berlin also pledged to respond to any
attempt by Russia to use energy as a weapon against Ukraine and
other Central and Eastern European countries.
July 28: The pipeline operator says NS 2 is 99% complete.
Aug 20: The Biden administration slaps sanctions on a
Russian ship and two companies involved in the pipeline.
Putin says there are 15 km (9 miles) left to finish NS 2.
Aug 25: Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court rules that Nord
Stream 2 is not exempt from European Union rules that require
the owners of pipelines to be different from the suppliers of
the gas that flows in them to ensure fair competition.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund and Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk
Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
