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Construction of Nord Stream 2 resumes

The Fortuna barge will carry out the pipe laying in the exclusive economic zone of Germany, according to Nord Stream 2 AG

© Stefan Sauer/dpa via AP

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Supply vessel to deliver pipes to Nord Stream 2 enters Baltic Sea

MOSCOW, December 11. / TASS /. The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline resumed on December 11; the Fortuna barge will carry out the pipe laying in the exclusive economic zone of Germany, Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the pipeline construction, told reporters on Friday.

The pipelayer Fortuna will lay a 2.6-kilometer section of the gas pipeline in the exclusive economic zone of Germany in waters at the depth of less than 30 meters. All construction work is carried out in full accordance with the permits received, the company said.

Further construction work on the offshore section will be announced additionally, Nord Stream 2 said. The operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, Nord Stream 2 AG, announced at the end of November that it plans to resume pipe-laying in December in the exclusive economic zone of Germany. It was reported that by the end of the year it was planned to lay the 2.6 km section on each of the gas pipeline strings in the exclusive economic zone of Germany.

It follows from the notice to mariners, published by the Federal Waterways and Shipways Office in Stralsund, that work in German waters will continue until December 31, 2020. The Fortuna barge, which will carry out work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the shallow waters of Adlergrund, approached the proposed construction site for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on the morning of December 11. There are three tugboats and Russian supply vessels, the Baltiyskiy Issledovatel and the Katun, next to Fortuna in the Baltic Sea.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two pipeline strings with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. To date, the gas pipeline is 93% complete. The work was suspended in December 2019 after the Swiss Allseas abandoned pipe-laying due to possible US sanctions.

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