No decision on the authorization of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is expected before mid-2022, the German energy regulator (Bundesnetzagentur) announced on Thursday, suspending the authorization procedure in September due to a legal hurdle, according to AFP.

The decision to allow the opening of the pipeline linking Russia and Germany “will not be taken in the first half of 2022,” Bundesnetzagentur President Jochen Homann told a news conference on Thursday.

In early September, the Russian group Gazprom announced the completion of construction work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which consists of two separate lines that can carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia to Germany, a sufficient quantity to supply 26 million households. Subsequently, the first of the two pipelines was filled with so-called “technical gas”, pending the necessary approvals from the German authorities to be able to start selling natural gas to Europe, according to Agerpres.

However, in November, the Bundesnetzagentur announced that it had decided to suspend the authorization process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as the Swiss-based group behind this project (Nord Stream 2 AG) must set up a company in accordance with the German law in order to obtain an operating license.

“Nord Stream AG has informed us that it has set up this new company,” Jochen Homann said on Thursday. However, the authorization procedure will not be resumed until “the supporting documents have been sent to the authority so that it can check them,” Homann added.

The permit issued by the German authorities is one of the last steps before the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline can be put into service, given that the construction work has been completed. The European Commission will then decide on the authorization.

Berlin officials have stressed that the decision to suspend the authorization procedures is not political in nature, even though the Nord Stream 2 project is in the midst of geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.