Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexey Miller, and Kurt Bock, Chairman of the BASF Board of Executive Directors have met to address further cooperation between the companies and BASF participation in the construction of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline.

In addition, a meeting between Alexey Miller and Sigmar Gabriel, German Vice-Chancellor, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, was organized to address the reliability of Russian gas supplies to Europe and the progress with the Nord Stream II project.

The parties pointed out the importance of creating new direct routes for Russian gas supplies to Europe amid the declining domestic production in European countries.

Meanwhile, Gazprom and OMV addressed setting up a joint venture to be responsible for the Nord Stream II gas pipeline design, construction and operation and acquisition of a stake in the joint venture by OMV.

As earlier reported, the Memorandum of Intent stipulating the construction of two strings of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline with an aggregate annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters, to be laid from the Russian coast to the German coast via the Baltic Sea, was signed on June 18, 2015 between Gazprom, E.ON, Shell and OMV.