The United States is deeply concerned about the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project as a threat to national security, a senior U.S. energy envoy said on Friday, after the issue was raised at talks in Washington this week.

Russia has been developing new pipeline projects such as South Stream, Turk Stream and Nord Stream 2. If one of them were to be realized then transit risk stemming from Ukraine would be severely minimized and Moscow would have important strategic leverage.

Lissik responded that on the contrary, Nord Stream 2 did not enter the EU internal market, and that Russia was not banned from trading with the EU. Economic exchange with Russia was continuing, and it is unfair to project political views and to focus on conflict when discussing Nord Stream 2. “We are trying to depoliticise the project. Its only target is to have a business case,” he said. “This is not the Kremlin.”

Poorly conceived policies could restrict development of abundant domestic natural gas resources and deny the US energy security, economic, and geopolitical opportunities.

Обсуждая вопросы текущей деятельности компании в России, участники встречи отметили позитивное сотрудничество во всех сферах, в том числе в нефтегазовой отрасли. "Северный поток-2, являясь коммерческим проектом, направлен на повышение надежности энергоснабжения Европы и обеспечение дополнительных поставок газа.

It says that two thirds of the gas will flow towards the Central European Gas Hub in Baumgarten, Austria. “This hub offers ideal connectivity and can handle large flows to central, east, southeast and south European countries, boosting their gas markets to comparable levels of liquidity and competiveness as in northwest Europe.”

The deal will give Calgary-based TransCanada a strategic position in the Marcellus and Utica shales of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, the most promising regions in the US for gas production growth.

The suppliers were chosen after a tender award. The tender covers 2,500 km of large-diameter pipes with a total weight of roughly 2.2mn metric tons. In an announcement on March 11, the consortium said that it had chosen three firms for the supply: Germany-based Europipe for 40% of the required steel pipes; Russia's United Metallurgical Company (OMK) for 33%; and Russian firm Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant (Chelpipe) for the remaining 27%.

"Just because I’ve built a pipeline, that doesn't mean that you have to buy my gas, the idea that that somehow it's undermining diversification of sources is just not true."

Nord Stream 2 will be built, according to Gazprom’s chairman of the board, Viktor Zubkov. “This means that customers will receive gas at favorable prices, but for this we need reliable sources of supply and uninterrupted means of transportation,” he said.