Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU) will offer its services in managing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, head of the company Serhiy Makogon has said.

"We will offer our services for managing Nord Stream 2 as a GTS operator truly independent of the Russian Federation," he wrote on his Facebook page.

"Upd. This is a joke," the GTSOU head later clarified.

Makogon welcomed the decision of the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court, which rejected the claim of the operator of Nord Stream 2 (a subsidiary of Gazprom - Nord Stream 2 AG) against the decision of the German Federal Network Agency or Bundesnetzagentur not to exempt the pipeline from the EU Gas Directive.

According to him, the court's decision not to exempt Nord Stream 2 from European Union rules, which require pipeline owners to differ from gas suppliers in them to ensure fair competition, "is exactly what the Ukrainian side insists on."

As reported, Nord Stream 2 AG earlier appealed against the regulator's decision not to derogate the gas pipeline from the EU Gas Directive, which is regulated in Germany by the relevant national law. The company filed the claim in relation to paragraph 28b of the German Energy Industry Act.

The German legislation envisages the theoretical possibility of exemption from regulation, but this only extends to gas pipelines that were completed before May 23, 2019.