Alexey Miller and Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier discussed cooperation issues

BERLIN -- A Gazprom delegation headed by Alexey Miller, chairman of the company’s management committee, paid a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany today. As part of the visit, a working meeting between Alexey Miller and Peter Altmaier, federal minister for economic affairs and energy of Germany, took place in Berlin.

The parties discussed a wide array of issues related to cooperation in the gas sector. It was noted that Germany, the world’s biggest importer of Russian gas, had been consistently increasing the volume of its purchases for the fourth consecutive year since 2015. According to provisional data, Gazprom delivered 48.6 Bcmg to the German market from January 1 through November 6, 2018. This marks an increase of 4.9 Bcm from the same period of the previous year, when Germany set a record for Russian gas imports at 53.4 Bcm.

It was stressed at the meeting that Gazprom’s interaction with German companies was strategic and covered the entire value chain, including joint gas production in Russia and efforts in the area of gas storage, transmission and sales across Europe.

Particular attention was given to the Nord Stream 2 project. Offshore pipelaying is currently underway in German territorial waters and in the exclusive economic zone of Finland. It was noted that the project was justified by the high relevance of the operational Nord Stream gas pipeline and the growing demand for Russian gas in Europe.