A nation must think before it acts.
Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
In October 2012 in Portovaya Bay, Russia, a gathering of heads of state and top industry leaders from Russia, Germany, France, and the Netherlands celebrated the commissioning of the second string of Nord Stream 1. Approximately three years later, a shareholder agreement was signed between Gazprom and Western European firms: E.ON, BASF/Wintershall, OMV, Engie, and Royal Dutch Shell to form a new consortium that would execute the plan and complete Nord Stream 2 (NS2) by the end of 2019. Once completed, NS2 would allow Gazprom to sharply reduce—if not eliminate completely—Ukrainian transit where disagreements had resulted in multiple shutoffs of Russian gas flows to Europe.