Germany To Speed Up Work On Plans To Build LNG Terminal - Merkel

Germany will accelerate work on plans to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as diversification of energy sources is important for the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2018) Germany will accelerate work on plans to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as diversification of energy sources is important for the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.

"We, of course, spoke on the topic of energy and energy security. On the German side, I explained that we also know that diversification is important. And so Germany will speed up work on plans to build a terminal for liquefied gas in Germany in order to have access to other sources of energy, " Merkel said at a press conference following German-Polish intergovernmental consultations.

Both Berlin and Warsaw aim to keep Ukraine's status as a transit country for the deliveries of Russian gas to Europe, the chancellor underlined.

At the same time, Merkel said that during her visit to Kiev on Thursday she had got an idea of the situation in the crisis-torn country, where "on the one hand, there are successes on the way of democratization of Ukraine, fighting corruption, on the other hand, unfortunately, the implementation of the Minsk agreement is not sufficiently successful.

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With the current contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine expiring in late 2019, Kiev has repeatedly voiced its willingness to remain a transit country. Kiev is concerned, in particular, over the Nord Stream 2 project since the pipeline, which is expected to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas to the European Union annually, and will bypass Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May that Russia would not halt gas transit through Ukraine if this remained cost-effective. On October 3, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that EU nations pledged to respect Ukraine's gas transit interests after the pipeline was built.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of the Russian Gazprom energy giant with French Engie, Austrian OMV AG, UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and German Uniper and Wintershall.