On Tuesday, Denmark’s energy agency (DEA) said that the Nord Stream 2 has pledged for a permit to complete the final 120 km set of the pipeline in Danish waters using pipe-laying vessels with anchors.
Previously, the pipeline works were stopped in December after the US sanctions targeting firms providing vessels laying Nord Stream 2 pipelines affected the pipe-laying company Swiss-Dutch Allseas.
Trump administrations argued that the project would strengthen Russia’s economic grip over Europe.
According to the DEA, the decision would be limited to the administrative sector in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It did not say how the project would proceed with a risk of sanctions.
The DEA said that pipe-laying vessels with anchors have been assessed in the environmental impact assessment but were not included in the permit from October 2019.
In June, the US senators announced a new bill expanding sanctions on the Nord Stream 2. At the moment, the bill is yet to be passed by Congress and signed by Trump.
Nord Stream 2 commented, “The amendment relates to the potential use of pipelay vessels that use anchors for positioning and it only relates to the clarification of one permit condition.”
Neither DEA nor the Nord Stream 2 mentioned the name of the vessel or vessels which may finish the job.
Nord Stream 2 is a project worth USD11 billion. It plans to add a second, twin natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea to double Nord Stream’s annual capacity to 110 billion cubic meters.
Half of the project’s allocation is taken by Russia’s Gazprom wand the rest is being shared by Austria’s OMV, Uniper and Wintershall of Germany, Royal Dutch Shell, and France’s Engie.
