Moody’s says new Denmark’s request to delay Nord Stream 2

MOSCOW, Apr 1 (PRIME) – A new request of the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) to Nord Stream 2 AG, the project company for construction of the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline, may delay construction, international rating agency Moody’s Senior Credit Officer Denis Perevezentsev said in a report on Monday.

Nord Stream 2 AG said on March 27 that the DEA had demanded inclusion of an environment impact estimate for the zone to the south of the Bornholm Island. Taking into account that the major route of the pipeline goes through the territorial waters of Denmark to the south of the island, while the alternative route lies to northwest of the island in the country’s exclusive economic zone, the request is in fact a demand to consider the second alternative route for the pipeline.

“The request that the DEA grounded by its wish to define a route with the least possible impact on the environment and on shipping traffic is a negative factor for Gazprom as it creates risks for the delay of the completion date of the Nord Stream-2 after the deadline of December 2019,” Perevezentsev said in the report.

“Consideration of a new permit for a route may take up to several months. In addition to that, the stage of pipelining in waters of Denmark will take about three to four months.”

The delay may weaken Gazprom’s position in its gas transit dispute with Ukraine. The gas transit through the country may jump to 40–50 billion cubic meters per year after 2019 from the initially planned 10–15 billion cubic meters, and the costs of gas transportation to the E.U. will subsequently rise as compared with transportation through the Nord Stream-2, he said.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Gazprom will implement the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and France’s Engie.

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