MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline's Danish section will be allowed to resume on Monday, August 3, following the Danish Energy Agency's (DEA) decision to permit the use of vessels with anchors, even if an appeal is filed.
According to the DEA, even if someone objects before the Danish Energy Board of Appeal, it will not have an immediate suspensive effect, unless the board decides otherwise.
The Nord Stream 2 project aims to lay a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters (1.942 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden. On December 20, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 defense budget, which included sanctions against the project, forcing Allseas, a Swiss company responsible for laying down the pipes, to withdraw from the project with just 100 miles left. Russia is now finishing the pipeline on its own.
In early July, the DEA updated the project's permit, allowing it to use pipelaying vessels with anchors along with self-positioning ships. The decision stressed that the remainder of the Danish section of the pipeline is located outside of the area with WW2-era chemical ordnance, thus eliminating the risk of accidental exposure of the marine environment to toxic warfare substances due to anchorage, bottom work and trawling.
However, per the country's Continental Shelf Act, the construction cannot resume until the four weeks for anyone filing an objection with the board have passed. The waiting period ends on August 3.
