Nord Stream 2 Launch Delayed to Next Year

The gas pipeline will be completed with the help of the Akademik Chersky vessel, which is now based in the Far East. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be launched before the end of 2020. This statement was made on Friday, December 27, by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, TASS reports. “Nord Stream 2 will be operational by the end of 2020,” he said. Novak noted that the Akademik Chersky vessel could complete the gas pipeline. “One option is the vessel which is now based in the Far East. This will require some additional organizational work,” he said. Novak said earlier that the Nord Stream 2 could be completed without foreign contractors. As you know, due to US sanctions the Swiss company Allseas, engaged in laying pipes for Nord Stream 2, notified that it had suspended its activities. The company withdrew all its vessels from the construction site in the Baltic Sea. The works on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are completed by 93.5%; about 160 kilometers of pipes are left to be laid.