2.2 thousand km of the gas pipeline has already been built, 160 km remain to be laid before the end of the project. However, the completion of the last section of the gas pipeline has been prevented by the US sanctions introduced in 2019 for more than a year.
According to RIA FAN, the restrictions forced the Swiss company Allseas to stop working. In December 2020, the Fortuna pipelayer continued laying the gas pipeline in German waters. But it soon became known that the United States was preparing a new package of sanctions. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the restrictions may complicate the implementation of the project, but both Russia and its European partners intend to complete it.
According to the expert of the Financial University under the government, Igor Yushkov, it is not yet known whether Gazprom Fleet, which previously owned the Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel, and Gazprom PJSC will fall under US sanctions.
“The story with the completion of the gas pipeline will develop as follows: Fortuna will complete the pipeline section in the German water area in December 2020. Next, the construction will be joined by “Academician Chersky”. He will lay pipes in the Danish waters. It is here that the main unfinished section of the project is located”, – Izvestia newspaper quotes Yushkov.
If both vessels are involved in the completion of the Danish section, it will take about two months to complete the construction, if only one vessel will work, the work will last four to five months, the expert believes. According to Maria Belova, Research Director of VYGON Consulting, the gas pipeline will be completed by the middle of next year.
In general, analysts have no doubts that Nord Stream-2 will be completed. Experts do not exclude that the project will be completed in 2021.