NORD STREAM IS IMPORTANT

REUTERS - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is important to secure German energy supplies and Russia is a safe and reliable provider, Thomas Bareiss, Germany's state secretary for energy, said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said the project increases reliance on Russian gas and has warned Western firms invested in it that they are at risk of sanctions.

Gas is due to start flowing to Europe through the pipeline at the end of 2019 and will allow Russia's Gazprom to stop piping gas via Ukraine where it has clashed with authorities over pricing and other issues for years.

Gazprom and its partners say the project is aimed at ensuring energy security in Europe, where gas production is falling.

"I know the U.S. has concerns ... but it is not so easy. For Germany, Russia has always been a safe and reliable supplier for gas," Bareiss told the Bloomberg NEF Future of Energy summit.

"Nord Stream 2 should go on because the pipeline secures energy supply in Europe," he told the conference in London.

Nord Stream 2 will double the existing Nord Stream 1 capacity from 55 billion cubic metres of gas a year. It is owned by Russian state-controlled Gazprom, which is taking on half of the planned costs of 9.5 billion euros ($11 billion).

The rest is divided among five European energy companies - Germany's Uniper and Wintershall, Anglo- Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell, France's Engie and Austria's OMV.

Germany is embarking on an expensive energy transition to replace coal and nuclear power capacity with low-carbon energy.

The government wants to be free of nuclear power by 2022 and has appointed a commission to decide this year on the timetable for a withdrawal from coal as part of a wider 2030 climate goal.

Bareiss said Germany will invest 50 billion euros ($58 billion) to 2030 in improving and expanding its electricity grids, but it is far behind on this.

"This is causing large costs - more than 1 billion euros a year in cost to businesses and consumers. Therefore, we have to speed up grid expansion and upgrades," he said.

"It is a very expensive transition process but it will work in the long run," Bareiss added.

The coal commission aims to bring its proposals to a U.N. climate conference in Poland in December on how many coal plants can be phased out in the next two years and then by 2030 and 2045, the minister said. ($1 = 0.8628 euros)

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Earlier:

2018, October, 1, 11:15:00 NORD STREAM 2 FUNDING PLATTS - Russia's Gazprom and five European energy companies are committed to fully financing Russia's 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 natural gas link to Germany if no external financing is raised

2018, September, 19, 13:55:00 GERMANY'S GAS MARKET IS OPEN REUTERS - “U.S. liquefied natural gas is coming to Germany. The question is not if, but when,” Brouillette told the mass circulation daily Bild in an interview published on Monday.

2018, September, 17, 15:05:00 NORD STREAM 2 FOR EUROPE PLATTS - Moscow also hopes to have its 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its 31.5 Bcm/year TurkStream link ready to flow gas to Europe by the end of 2019, leaving only limited volumes for transit via Ukraine.

2018, September, 7, 12:33:00 NORD STREAM-2 STARTS IN FINLAND GAZPROM - The offshore pipelay vessel Solitaire started the pipelay for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland. Русский | English

2018, August, 31, 11:25:00 RUSSIAN GAS FOR EUROPE UP PLATTS - Russian gas supplies to Europe and Turkey rebounded in August, according to data released by gas giant Gazprom, after a dip the previous month during the planned outage of the main Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany.

2018, August, 13, 13:55:00 GERMANY VS U.S. SANCTIONS REUTERS - “This trade war is slowing down and destroying economic growth - and it creates new uncertainties,” Altmaier told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that consumers suffered the most because higher tariffs were driving up prices.

2018, August, 13, 13:50:00 RUSSIAN GAS FOR EUROPE PLATTS - Russian state-owned gas producer and transporter Gazprom filed a complaint with the WTO about the legislation in April 2014, arguing Russian infrastructure was being treated unfairly. Since then, constraints on access to OPAL have been lifted, resulting in flows via Nord Stream increasing to full capacity of 155 million cu m/day. The decision is therefore not expected to be market moving. Русский | English