“Despite the pressure”: Russia is confident in the successful completion of the construction of the Nord Stream 2

The Russian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that the construction of the gas pipeline will be completed even under conditions of sanction pressure. This was stated by deputy head of the department Alexander Pankin.

“We are confident that, despite the pressure exerted by the United States, the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be successfully completed. The Russian Foreign Ministry intends to contribute to this as much as possible, ”RIA Novosti quoted the diplomat as saying.

Pankin emphasized that it was time for Western states to abandon sanctions on the gas pipeline, since nothing threatens the Moscow and Kiev agreements on gas transit.

According to the diplomat, the European Union and the United States previously used in their rhetoric theses on the need to block new Russian gas projects in order to preserve Ukrainian transit. At the same time, Pankov believes, against the background of compromise agreements between Russia and Ukraine, the transit argument no longer makes sense.

“Russia has in fact confirmed its interest in maximizing the diversification of gas export routes, which objectively increased the level of energy security in Europe. Therefore, it would be time to stop further “sanctioning itching” in this regard, ”the diplomat concluded.

In turn, Energy Minister Alexander Novak stressed that the pipeline will be completed, despite US resistance.

Nord Stream-2 is the most “transparent”, predictable and profitable project for both our country and European consumers: the Russian Federation will optimize gas supplies, and the countries of Northern and Central Europe will increase energy security by receiving fuel directly from Russia That guarantees stability, a very competitive cost and a minimum number of intermediaries. And despite the unprecedented resistance of a number of countries, primarily the USA, the gas pipeline will be completed, ”said Novak. His words are quoted by the journal "Energy Policy".

One of the options

Meanwhile, according to the Vesselfinder portal, the Akademik Chersky Russian pipe-laying vessel, which can be used to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2, left the port of Nakhodka and headed for Singapore.

It is reported that the "Academician Chersky" stood at the port of Nakhodka in October 2019, and the ship should arrive in Singapore on February 22.

Note that since 2016 the vessel has been in the operational management of Gazprom Fleet. Initially, the vessel was developed by order of Sea Trucks Group Limited by the efforts of the designers of the Norwegian company Vik-Sandvik.

After acquiring the ship in May 2016, Gazprom’s deputy chairman, Vitaliy Markelov, said the company “built a ship to carry out pipe-laying and offshore operations.”

At the end of 2019, Energy Minister Alexander Novak called Academician Chersky one of the options for completing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Then the minister said that to start work "it will take some time for further training."

• Reuters
• © Stine Jacobsen

Recall that Nord Stream 2 is two strands of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, stretching from the Russian coast in the Baltic Sea to Germany. To date, more than 2,300 km of the gas pipeline from the planned 2,460 km, which is approximately 93%, have been laid.

In late December, US President Donald Trump signed the country's defense budget for the new fiscal year, which included sanctions against the Russian pipelines Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream.

Against the backdrop of these events, the Swiss company Allseas, which conducted the laying of the Nord Stream 2 pipes, curtailed work, saying that it did not plan to return to the construction of this highway.

At the same time, Gazprom Alexey Miller in early January said that Russia has no technological obstacles to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2.

“Today technological risks are solved by our facilities, therefore, Nord Stream 2 will be completed. Of course, this will require a bit more time, but we do not have technological obstacles to do this on our own, ”he said in the program“ Moscow. Kremlin. Putin "on the channel" Russia 1 ".

Subsequently, the German publication Handelsblatt reported that the United States could impose additional sanctions in the event that Russia tries to independently complete the project. According to the newspaper, restrictive measures may affect companies that will receive gas through the highway.

As Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the State Duma committee on energy, said in an interview with RT, Russia has two vessels at its disposal that can carry out work on the Nord Stream 2: Fortuna and Academician Chersky.

“At the same time, Fortuna does not have a dynamic positioning system - it is a rather complicated system, and the Akademik Chersky vessel has such a system. Therefore, from the point of view of its refinement, the “Academician Chersky” is more suitable for the possibility of laying these pipes, ”said the parliamentarian.

According to Igor Yushkov, a leading expert at the National Energy Security Fund, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of Russia, it is Academician Chersky who will be used to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2.

“Most likely, we really chose the option that we will finish building our ships, and at least two of our ships will participate - this is apparently the Academician Chersky, which is the most technically suitable for such work and the Fortuna pipe-laying barge, which already located in the German port. She was in the Baltic Sea at one time and was just laying the Russian section of Nord Stream-2 in the Russian water area, ”said Yushkov.

According to him, the ship “Akademik Chersky” could be sent to Singapore for technical modernization, and after that the ship will go to the place of construction of “Nord Stream - 2” to start work in the spring in conditions of lesser safety requirements in the last sections of the gas pipeline.

“Now there is a mandatory requirement - this is the system of the so-called dynamic positioning,“ Academician Chersky ”has it, but“ Fortune ”does not have it. In calm days, in the spring-summer period, when there are fewer storms, I think the main plan is to agree with the Danes to reduce the requirements that “Fortune could work too, so that it could be completed as quickly as possible in late 2020 and early 2021 to put Nord Stream-2 into operation, ”the expert believes.

In turn, the director of the Energy Development Fund Sergey Pikin also drew attention to the technical parameters of Russian ships, which can deal with the completion of work on the Nord Stream - 2. According to him, there are several ways of further development of events.

"There is an option - to equip the Academician, there is an option - to use the Fortuna, which is located in the Baltic Sea and using ships with a dynamic positioning system to ensure the accuracy of the Fortune route," said Pikin in an interview with RT.

In his opinion, the key role is not played by the deadlines, but by the fact that the process can still be completed.

“Still, there is not such a volume left - 160 km in total. Therefore, I think that this is a matter of time, and very little time, ”the expert concluded.