YUZHNO-SAKHALINS, May 19 (WNM staff/TASS) - CEO of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom Alexei Miller on Sunday did not rule out possible delays in the implementation on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project but pledged these would be minor delays.

“Four fifth of capital costs needed for the pipeline’s constructions have already been funded. Even if there are some problems, it should be understood that they would delay the project’s terms very insignificantly,” he said in an interview with the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

In was reported on May15 that a total of 1,241 kilometers of pipes, or 50.6 percent of the overall length of the pipeline’s two threads, had been laid by that day.

Earlier, Miller reportedly said that the progress in the Nord Stream-2 construction made it possible to say that gas supplies via that pipeline could be launched from January 1, 2020.

Several US senators recently have been stepping up their efforts against the planned Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline. They proposed a bill imposing travel and financial sanctions on companies and individuals involved in the construction of the pipeline.

According to Amy MacKinnon from Foreign Policy Magazine, the bill would put under scrutiny two companies that have contracts to lay pipes for Nord Stream 2: Switzerland’s Allseas and Italy’s Saipem, two of only a handful of companies worldwide that operate pipe-laying vessels. It also ratchets up pressure on Gazprom and the five companies partnering on Nord Stream 2: Uniper and Wintershall from Germany, Anglo-Dutch Shell, OMV from Austria, and Engie of France.