The joint Russian-European Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has been completed and prepared to start pumping gas from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

However, the dual pipeline system still needs the approval of German and European regulators, who have threatened to put off certification until well into next year.

Germany’s underground gas storage reserves have dropped to below 60 percent, a “historically low level” for the start of winter, Sebastian Blaschke, managing director of INES, the association of German gas storage system operators, has warned.