Russian pipe-laying vessel stops near Nord Stream 2 construction site

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy stopped on Saturday near the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Saturday, with work on the project set to resume.

The consortium led by Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) building the 1,230 kilometre (km) pipeline said last month that work would resume after it was suspended a year ago when U.S. sanctions targeted companies involved in the construction.

The pipeline, which Washington says compromises European energy security, has become a flashpoint in relations between Russia and the West that have sunk to post-Cold War lows.

According to the Eikon data, the Russian pipe-laying vessel has stopped north of Poland and Germany. Swiss-Dutch company Allseas suspended pipe-laying last December following the threat of sanctions from Washington.

The maritime authority in the German city of Stralsund has informed shippers there will be pipeline-laying activities from Dec. 5 through Dec. 31 in the Baltic Sea area where Nord Stream 2 will make landfall.

It did not say when the work would be finished or how the other remaining sections of the pipeline would be laid, adding that it will name the vessel, which would lay pipes, later. It declined to comment further on Friday.

The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, led by Russian state energy company Gazprom and aimed at doubling the existing Nord Stream pipeline’s capacity, is more than 90% complete.

However, the annual U.S. defence policy bill unveiled by lawmakers late on Thursday contains sanctions that backers say will halt Nord Stream 2.

Gazprom’s western partners in the project are Germany’s Uniper, BASF’s Wintershall Dea, Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell (LON:RDSa), Austria’s OMV and Engie.