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 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.

Particular attention was given to the Nord Stream 2 project. The parties noted that in light of the declining European gas production, the construction of this gas pipeline was crucial for meeting the growing Russian gas demand in Europe in the future.

Nord Stream-2 project would develop rapidly in 2016. The pipeline extension project continues to move ahead, despite opposition to from several European countries

Russia's Gazprom and a group of European companies agreed on the project last year, raising protests mostly among central and southern European countries.

Mr. Novak said that the project could still be implemented if the European Commission develops corresponding infrastructure for natural gas transportation in Central and Eastern Europe,

Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev put it more bluntly, telling reporters in Brussels that blocking Nord Stream-2 would be "a shot in the foot" especially for Gazprom's European clients.