The US sanctions slapped on a controversial Russian gas pipeline to Europe will likely delay the project by several months but it will still be completed next year, a top German official said Monday.

The sanctions “will postpone the completion” of the undersea pipeline, said Peter Beyer, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s transatlantic coordinator.

“But I expect the pipeline to be finished in the second half of 2020,” he told German public radio Deutschlandfunk.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was initially slated for completion in…