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Nord Stream 2 is 99% complete, Fortuna barge is working at final section — operator

Earlier, CEO of Austria’s OMV expressed hope that the first gas will flow via Nord Stream 2 this year

© Jens Buettner/dpa via AP

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is by now 99% complete, the Fortuna pipe-laying barge is working at the final section, a representative with Nord Stream 2 AG, the project’s operator, told TASS.

Meanwhile, the Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel has fully completed the planned work.

"The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Chersky has fully completed the originally planned scope of work for the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. Thus, by now, the gas pipeline is 99% complete. The pipe-laying barge Fortuna continues to work at the final section of the project," the official said.

Earlier on Wednesday, CEO of Austria’s OMV Rainer Seele expressed hope that the first gas will flow via Nord Stream 2 this year.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the completion of two lines of the gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Work on the project was suspended in December 2019 after Swiss Allseas abandoned pipe-laying operations due to the then-looming US sanctions. In December 2020, the construction of the gas pipeline was resumed after a year's pause.

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