MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pavel Zavalny, the head of the energy committee in Russia"s lower house of parliament, said on Friday that gas may start flowing via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany as soon as in January. Germany"s energy regulator said on Thursday full certification of the pipeline would not come in the first half of 2022. read more "I can say with a high degree of certainty that the first gas via Nord Stream 2 will go in January," Zavalny told an online conference. "Why am I sure about this? First of all, the timing for it (certification) is up in January. And it"s not in the interests of Germany and other European Union"s countries to drag on with this process further," he said. He added that by that time, the level of gas in storage facilities will decline, which would boost prices. "This would be an additional incentive not to drag on with the certification and the Nord Stream 2 launch," he said. Numerous Russian officials and Gazprom managers had expected the pipeline to start working this year.