Russian Akademik Cherskiy Pipe Laying Vessel Appears En Route To Nord Stream 2

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The Akademik Cherskiy pipe laying vessel continues its voyage northward towards Europe, but it has changed its destination to the Spanish port of Las Palmas, according to Marine Traffic and VesselFinder.

The ship is slated to be the one responsible for the finishing works on NordStream 2.

The port is located in the Canary Islands, the ship should reach its destination around April 18^th.

The Akademik Cherskiy left Nakhodka on February 10^th and has been en route for 56 days.

At the same time, the pipe layer constantly changes its destination.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in December 2019 reported that the use of the Akademik Cherskiy is one of the options for completing the Nord Stream-2, but some time will be required for additional preparation of the vessel.

Nord Stream-2 involves the construction of two pipes that would comprise a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany.

t is being implemented by Nord Stream 2 AG with a single shareholder, Gazprom. European partners – the British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, the Austrian OMV, the French Engie and the German Uniper and Wintershall provided 50% of the financing of the project, with up to 950 million euro each.

The remaining half of the funds – 4.75 billion euro – comes from Gazprom.

The United States is actively opposing Nord Stream-2, promoting its liquefied natural gas in the EU, as well as Ukraine and several European countries.

The US imposed sanctions on the project in December, requiring construction companies to stop construction immediately.

Swiss Allseas almost immediately announced the suspension of the gas pipeline.

Regardless, on April 2^nd, it was announced that a Dutch ship – the Flintstone, would be included in the construction work on the NordStream 2.

According to the portal Vesselfinder, the ship is now located in the North Sea and is heading south towards the city of Portsmouth in the UK and it arrived there on April 3^rd.

So far, there are four Dutch and one Cypriot vessels in the list of ships for stone filling the pipeline.

Meanwhile, on March 30^th, US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News boasted that he was the one behind the idea to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2.

“For example, a pipeline, a Russian pipeline. No one even heard about the Russian pipeline until I showed up and said: “Maybe [sanction] it?” It was me, not someone else,” he said.

Apart from the US threat of sanctions, which seems to deter anybody at this point, there’s no hurdles before NordStream 2.

On March 13^th, the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled that the construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline project could continue, rejecting a complaint over a plot of land through which the pipeline should pass and finally clearing the path for the German-Russian project.

At the EU level, there had been strong resistance to the German-Russian project. In a resolution a year ago, the European Parliament stated that “Nord Stream 2 increases the EU’s dependence on Russian gas supplies, threatens the EU’s internal market and is not in line with the EU’s energy policy or strategic interests”.

Which is an exact copy of what Washington says, with disregard to any arguments that it’s simply a business transaction, and such a little share of Europe’s energy comes from Russian gas that it’s unreasonable to claim that.

And even despite the COVID-19 hysteria, work is continuing.

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