Nord Stream

The House of Representatives of US Congress (lower house) rejected a presidential veto on Monday. Thus, the provisions for the defense budget, which include the extension of sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream pipelines, enter into force. Both chambers, for the first time in Trump's presidency, have managed to override his veto.

"The USA is against the second line of the Turk Stream gas pipeline intended for gas supplies to Southeast Europe via Bulgaria, because our country views it as geostrategic project of Russia", the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio. 

The US is opposed to the TurkStream gas pipeline, which carries Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey and was inaugurated on Wednesday, and the Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea as undermining European energy security and unity, a senior State Department official has been quoted as saying.

Russia has started European gas deliveries through the new TurkStream pipeline to Turkey, Bulgaria's Bulgartransgaz said on Sunday, as Moscow looks to reduce shipments via Ukraine.

Russia is building TurkStream and doubling the capacity of NordStream across the Baltic Sea to Germany as part of plans to bypass Ukraine in its gas deliveries to Europe.

Turkey will launch TurkStream natural gas pipeline next month, energy and natural resources minister said on Dec. 27.

"We will launch TurkStream on Jan. 8. We will be indispensable in international markets with natural gas pipelines coming from both the east and north," said Fatih Dönmez in a meeting in the northwestern Bilecik province.

Russia will respond in kind to U.S. sanctions against the TurkStream and NordStream II projects, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Dec. 23.

Speaking at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament in Moscow, the Council of Federation, Lavrov said preparing a fitting response needs both time and analysis.

Germany accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs on Dec. 21 for imposing sanctions on companies working on a major project to supply Western Europe with Russian gas.    

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline will be commissioned by the end of 2019, with both legs filled with gas, Daily Sabah reported.

Gazprom announced in a press release that the filling of the pipes marks the last stage before commissioning, which is to carry Russian natural gas under Black Sea waters to Turkey and from there to the European Union and Southeast European countries.

Denmark approves Nord Stream 2 ″. The Danish Energy Agency has approved Nord Stream 2 AG to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the continental shelf of Denmark southeast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, says in a statement.

The agency estimates that this route is the safest and meets environmental standards.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 75% complete, the project's operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, said in a statement released today. A total of 1,855 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline were built along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. That's about 75 percent of the total length of the pipeline, the release said.