Regulator: Nord Stream 2 construction suspended until late May

BERLIN, May 4 (PRIME) -- The suit of German environmental protection organization NABU against the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline has suspended construction of the pipeline, which may resume at the end of May, a spokesperson for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH) told PRIME on Tuesday.

NABU filed the suit against a BSH permit for construction of the pipeline on Monday.

“The suit has a suspending impact on the permit for construction. The suit was filed against the second amended decision the BSH made on January 14, 2021. By this decision the BSH approved laying the pipeline with the help of an anchored vessel in the period from the end of September through the end of May at a 16.5 kilometer site in Germany’s exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea,” the spokesperson said.

“From the end of May construction of the Nord Stream 2 will be allowed to continue in accordance with the current situation with the permit. In March 2018, Nord Stream 2’s operator received a permanent permit for laying the pipeline from the end of May until the end of September.”

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. Russian gas giant Gazprom builds the pipeline together with Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall Dea, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, and France’s Engie.

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