Denmark authorizes use of new vessels for laying Nord Stream 2

The new decision is a change in the conditions set out in the permit issued by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) on October 30, 2019

At the request of Nord Stream 2 AG, the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) gave permission to use vessels with anchor positioning on an unfinished section of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline southeast of Bornholm Island, the company said in a press release made available on Monday.

According to the statement, the Danish Energy Agency has decided that Nord Stream 2 AG can also use pipelayers with anchor positioning when laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The new decision is a change in the conditions set out in the permit issued by the agency on October 30, 2019. This means that Nord Stream 2 AG can use pipe-laying vessels both with anchor positioning and equipped with a dynamic positioning system. The permit is issued in accordance with the Law on the Continental Shelf and with obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to it, "Denmark is obliged to permit the construction of transit pipelines taking into account safety, resources and the environment."

In the new decision, the DEA emphasized that the remainder of the pipeline passing through Denmark’s exclusive economic zone "is located outside the area where trawling, anchorage and bottom work are not recommended because of the risk of flooding of toxic warfare substances into the marine environment."

Earlier, the head of the DEA press service, Ture Falbe-Hansen, explained to TASS that the company requested on June 5 that DEA approve the use of vessels with anchor positioning for pipe laying when the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline was completed. Anchor-positioned pipelayers were evaluated when considering environmental impacts, "but were not part of the permit issued in October 2019." The regulator also clarified that the Danish permit extended to pipeline work, and not to specific vessels.

The Nord Stream 2 project allocates for the construction of two gas pipeline strings with the total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The gas pipeline is 93% complete to date. The halt in the implementation of the project is due to the fact that at the end of December 2019, due to US. sanctions, the Swiss Allseas stopped the construction of the gas pipeline and took away its vessels. The head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said that the pipeline would be completed anyway. In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that before the end of this year, or in Q1 2021 work will be completed and the gas pipeline will be commissioned.

Source: tass.com