The Akademik Chersky pipelayer, which is expected to continue to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, has ceased to belong to Gazprom. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the company’s materials on Wednesday, July 29.
It is noted that back in June it became known that the pipelayer began to belong to the Samara Heat and Power Property Fund (STIF), which was part of the Gazprom group. But in the latest list of the company’s affiliates, dated June 30, the fund no longer appears.
The agency, with reference to the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE), notes that the STIF remains a valid legal entity and exists under the same name.
Gazprom acquired the ship Akademik Chersky in 2015. Since 2016, it has been under the operational management of Gazprom Flot. According to RIA Novosti, the pipelayer is now in the German unit Mukran, the logistics base of Nord Stream 2.
The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of a gas pipeline with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. m per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The EU countries mainly support the project and participate in its implementation. The United States, the Baltic states, Ukraine and Poland are opposed.
By now the pipeline is 94% complete. It is planned to connect Akademik Chersky to the final part of the construction. The Russian gas monopoly decided to use this pipelayer after the Swiss company Allseas was forced to withdraw its vessels from the construction area in December 2019 and stopped work. This happened due to the fact that Washington imposed sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
Gazprom hopes to launch the pipeline at the end of this or early 2021. In June this year, US senators proposed extending the sanctions.