Denmark Revises Gazprom's Permit to Build NS2

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has revised the construction permit it issued to the Gazprom-owned Nord Stream 2 (NS2) operating company last year to allow the use of anchored vessels to complete the Baltic Sea pipeline, the regulator said on July 6.

As NGW has reported, Russia wants to use its own pipelaying vessels to finish the remaining 6% of NS2's offshore section, all of which is in Danish waters. The Gazprom-owned Akademik Cherskiy is understood to be equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DPS) required to work at the NS2 construction site under Danish regulation, but its crane is not large enough to lift NS2's pipes. Another Russian vessel, Fortuna, has a large enough crane but no DPS.

It has therefore been suggested Gazprom could couple the vessels, but if this renders the DPS unusable it will have to anchor them. Nord Stream 2 asked the DEA to revise its permit to allow this option last month.

Construction of NS2 ground to a halt in December after US sanctions were imposed on the project, forcing Swiss contractor Allseas to cease work. Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that NS2 should start flowing gas in early 2021, which is over a year later than was originally scheduled.

Both Akademik Cherskiy and Fortuna are stationed at the German port of Mukran, which Gazprom has been using over the years to store NS2's pipes.