The Nord Stream pipeline moves forward

The Nord Stream pipeline carrying natural gas from the Arctic gas deposits to Europe is moving forward fast. In spite of Trump’s opposition the German government supports the project which requires tending the pipes on the bottom of the Baltic sea.

Until now nearly 2,000 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline have been tended. This project conceived to deliver natural gas from Russia to the European Union, now extends along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

“The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline continues. So far, 1,882 kilometers [1,169 miles] of pipes have been laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea – over 76% of Nord Stream 2’s total length,” Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, which leads the project in partnership with European energy majors, said in a statement.
Nord Stream 2, aimed at doubling the annual capacity of the existing Nord Stream pipeline by adding 55 billion cubic meters, is to run via the waters of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. It has approvals from all countries whose waters it crosses apart from Denmark.
The project involves the construction of two pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, to extend from the Russian coast to Germany –and further on to other European customers– through the Baltic Sea.

Nord Stream 2 is planned to be completed by year’s end. The pipeline route has so far been laid through the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. Only one remaining stretch of the pipeline, to be laid through Danish territorial waters, is pending official authorization.

Gazprom has had applications pending with the Danish authorities since April 2017, for approval to lay from 147 km to 175 km (90 miles to 109 miles) of pipes in Denmark’s Baltic waters. The country, however, has delayed greenlighting the construction, caught up in a political row between Germany, which has approved the pipeline long ago, and the United States, which is openly protesting the project, claiming it will inevitably deepen European reliance on Russian gas.

This problem with Denmark has not been solved yet. The opposition of the United States is not helping. Recently Donald Trump offered to buy Greenland from the Danish government and had an international argument with the Danish Prime Minister. However, on the pipeline issue, Denmark is still dragging its feet.

If Denmark continue to oppose the pipeline on its jurisdictional waters the pipeline partners may search for a plan B building the project avoiding the Danish territorial waters building the pipeline through the Danish exclusive economic zone where the project cannot be vettoed.