Nord Stream 2 Pipe-Laying Vessel Is Heading to Kaliningrad

The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy will arrive from the German Mukran to Kaliningrad on November 28. Norwegian DNV GL has announced that it will not refuse certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy, which has capacity to complete the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, has left the German hub of Mukran on Thursday evening, November 26, and is heading to Kaliningrad, the Marine Traffic portal reports. In the port of Mukran, pipes for the construction of a gas pipeline are stored, there are also ships engaged in the work. According to the plan, Akademik Cherskiy is due to arrive at Kaliningrad on November 28 at about 13:00 local time (14:00 Moscow time). In early October, the Akademik Cherskiy left Mukran for the first time since May and headed to the Curonian Spit. There it was stationed in a "limited maneuverability" mode. In mid-October, supply vessels Umka, Finval and Baltic Researcher appeared next to the pipelayer. On October 26, Akademik Cherskiy left the Kaliningrad region and headed to Mukran. It departed together with Umka and Finval. Norwegian company does not refuse certification of the gas pipeline On October 26, the Norwegian DNV GL announced that it would stop providing verification services for the vessels serving Nord Stream 2, as well as equipment on these vessels. The company explained that it made this decision after analyzing new clarifications from the US State Department regarding sanctions against Nord Stream 2. At the same time, DNV clarified that it does not refuse to certify the pipeline itself. Previously, many media outlets reported such a refusal. At the moment, the gas pipeline has been completed by more than 90 percent, the last section that remains to be laid is in the Danish waters. It was assumed that Nord Stream 2 would be commissioned by the end of 2019. However, in the summer of the same year, it became finally clear that Gazprom was out of schedule and would not be able to fulfill its targets, and in December 2019, the project completely stopped, since foreign pipe-laying vessels refused to participate in it due to the threat of US sanctions. Because of them, the Swiss company Allseas refused to lay pipes for Nord Stream 2 and withdrew its vessels from the Baltic Sea. It is expected that by the end of 2020, the United States will introduce a new package of restrictions against the gas pipeline project into the country's defense budget.