Nord Stream 2 work continues

Gazprom is pushing ahead with Nord Stream 2 construction, but US sanctions may yet block commissioning, writes Paul Martin

Construction of the first string Gazprom's 55bn m³/yr Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Danish waters will resume in March after a 15-month break, Danish energy agency DEA says. Work on the second string started earlier this year.

Pipe-laying could continue until September in locations between Denmark's Bornholm Island in the Baltic Sea and the German border, according to a Danish maritime authority notice. Two Russian-flagged pipe-laying vessels, Akademik Cherskiy and Fortuna, will operate in the area.

About 110km of the pipeline must still be laid in Danish waters and about 28km in German waters, Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream 2 says. With both vessels operating from May, construction could be completed this summer. Once pipe-laying is finished, the project requires above-water tie-ins of unconnected pipe sections, as well as design verification of the completed pipeline.

Work on Nord Stream 2 is restarting despite US sanctions on targeting the Fortuna, and its owner, suggesting that the measures may be unable to halt physical construction of the sub-sea pipeline to Germany. But Nord Stream 2 could still face difficulties before start-up.

US sanctions have forced several insurers and contractors to withdraw from the project — including Norway-based independent certification body DNV GL, which has wound down its verification activities. Nord Stream 2 had contracted the DNV GL to "verify the safety and technical integrity" of the project and to issue a certificate of compliance upon its "satisfactory completion", DNV GL says.

Third-party certification — confirming that Nord Stream 2 was designed, fabricated, installed and commissioned in accordance with "applicable technical, quality and safety requirements" — is required before the DEA will issue a "certificate of conformity" allowing pipeline commissioning to begin.