ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—Russia is ready to start filling its Nord Stream 2 pipeline with gas as that first line has been finished, President Vladimir Putin told an economic forum on June 4, after Moscow was left alone to build the project hit by U.S. sanctions.

"Today... the pipelaying work of the first Nord Stream 2 line was successfully finished. Work on the second line is ongoing," Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. "Gazprom is ready to start filling Nord Stream 2 with gas."

Gazprom shares rallied after announcement, adding 0.6% and reaching $3.74 per share, their highest since mid-2008.

Gazprom was left without its pipe-laying company in late 2019 following U.S. sanctions, and has since continued alone. The United States last month waived some sanctions on the Nord Stream 2.

The pipeline bypassed Ukraine, potentially depriving it of lucrative transit revenues when Kyiv is locked in a confrontation with Moscow, though the Kremlin says it will continue to use Ukraine as a gas transit country.

Nord Stream 2, which runs beneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, is nearly complete and Moscow plans to fully finish it this year.