A scheme of funding the project to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by foreign companies may be defined in the first half of this year, Germany's Wintershall CEO Mario Mehren told reporters.

The Wintershall head said the company had been intensively elaborating the financing scheme and he has been quite confident that they would find a solution to provide not only moral, but also financial support to the project.

Mehren was hopeful that the decision will be found in the first half of this year.

He also said that if Wintershall would become a party to the project that he hoped for, this would definitely be project funding. Mehren said that his company had had a very good experience in Nord Stream 1 and Severneftegazprom.

Norm Stream 2 envisages the construction of third and fourth lines of the gas pipeline via the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany that will result in annual overall capacity of the pipeline to reach 110-120 billion cubic meters of gas.

The project is being implemented by the project company Nord Stream 2 AG, which Gazprom solely owns so far. Foreign partners, namely E.ON, Engie, OMV, Shell, Wintershall could not buy out their stakes in the joint venture, because the Polish regulator has blocked the deal.