Germany Suspends Nord Stream 2 Certification Process, Gas Prices Soar in Europe

Germany’s energy regulator has suspended the approval process for the Nord Stream 2 project, a sprawling undersea pipeline that will carry Russian gas directly into the European country. The German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday, saying it could not certify the Gazprom-controlled Nord Stream 2 as an independent operator because the company was based in Switzerland, not Germany. “Following a thorough examination of the documentation, the [regulator] concluded that it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form…