Russian pipe-layer stops near Nord Stream 2 pipeline site

Moscow, December 8 - Neftegaz.RU. A Russian pipe-laying vessel has stopped near the construction site of the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. According to a Reuters, AIS data from Saturday puts the Akademik Cherskiy pipelayer near the Nord Stream 2 construction site. The Russian pipe-laying vessel has stopped north of Poland and Germany.

Gazprom stated recently that it would resume pipe-laying work on the stalled 2.6-km part before the end of 2020. At the time the Russian company did not disclose which vessel would be conducting the work.

Work on the pipeline was halted last December when pipe-laying company Allseas suspended operations after U.S. sanctions targeted companies providing vessels to lay the pipes.

The potential resumption of activity comes after outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has staunchly opposed the pipeline, lost to president-elect Joe Biden in the presidential election earlier this month.

The U.S. ambassador to Berlin called on the German government and the EU to put a temporary halt to construction work on the pipeline to send a signal to Moscow. The pipeline, which Washington says compromises European energy security, has become a major bone of contention between Russia and the West and the relations between the two sunk to post-Cold War lows.

“This pipeline is not just an economic project, but the Kremlin’s political tool to bypass Ukraine and divide Europe“, Robin Quinville, acting U.S. ambassador to Berlin, told Germany’s Handelsblatt daily.

It is worth noting that the maritime authority in the German city of Stralsund did inform shippers that there will be pipeline-laying activities from 5-31 December in the Baltic Sea area where Nord Stream 2 will make landfall.

The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project is more than 90 % complete. However, the annual U.S. defence policy bill unveiled by lawmakers late last Thursday contains sanctions that backers say will halt Nord Stream 2.

Although the construction of the 1,230-km pipeline is nearly finished, the small section in Germany currently under contention needs to be completed as well as the final stretch of about 120 km in Danish waters.

Author: Bojan Lepic