MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/: The Akademik Cherskiy pipelaying vessel indicated earlier as a potential ship to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak continues moving towards Europe. Currently the ship that departed from the port of Nakhodka in the Russian Far East is navigating around Africa near the Angolan shore and is heading for the north of the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Spanish port of Las Palmas, according to the data of the Myshiptracking web portal.
The vessel has been operated by Gazprom Flot since 2016.
The Switzerland-based Allseas, which laid pipes for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, suspended its pipelay activities and withdrew vessels involved in the project due to the threat of the US’ sanctions in late December 2019.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries — Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, thus bypassing transit countries of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic states. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. Gazprom's European partners in the project are Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie and Royal Dutch Shell. The project is 93% complete to date.
