Nord Stream 2 Construction Can Continue, Danish Energy Appeal Board States

The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline can continue, as no one has appealed Copenhagen's decision allowing the use of anchored ships for the works, the Danish Energy Board of Appeal announced Tuesday.

The appeal board said it had not been petitioned against July's decision of the Danish Energy Agency to allow Nord Stream 2 AG to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors in the country's waters. The company may resume construction on Tuesday, the board said.

Previously, Copenhagen confirmed that the pipeline's route is outside the zone of risk of contact with WWII-era chemical weapons, which are buried at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

The Russian pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy, which may be used to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, lies in the port of Mukran, Germany, July 7, 2020

© REUTERS / Axel Schmidt

The €9.5 billion, 1,230-kilometre (or 715-mile) long pipeline was hit with sanctions by the United States back in December 2019 under the US' 2020 National Defence Authorisation Act, which caused the Swiss pipelay company Allseas to quit the project with just 100 miles of the pipeline left to put down. Russia is now completing the pipeline on its own.

While Washington cited security concerns for its sanctions, both Russia and Germany, which are involved in the project, stressed that it is an example of unfair competition that runs counter to international law.