World's largest pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit has started the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Finland's exclusive economic zone, the Nord Stream 2 AG consortium, responsible for the construction and operation of the pipeline, said in a statement.
"Dynamically positioned pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit has joined Nord Stream 2’s construction fleet and started pipelay works in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) last night. She will continue installation of the natural gas pipeline following pipelay vessel Solitaire, which started construction in Finland in September", the company said in a statement, published on its official website, Sputnik reports.
The Solitaire vessel, in turn, will now move to the southern part of Sweden's exclusive economic zone, where it will be laying a 510-kilometre (317 miles) long section of the pipeline.
"The Nord Stream 2 project is proceeding according to plan and on schedule… Pipelay vessel Audacia finished its work in German waters yesterday [on Saturday]. Already approximately 370 kilometres of the pipeline have been laid so far", the company added.
The project envisages the construction of two pipelines that will run at the bottom of the Baltic Sea and deliver around 55 billion cubic meters (almost 2 trillion cubic feet) of Russian gas directly to Europe.
The pipelines are set to cross the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of Russia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Denmark remains the only country which is yet to give its consent for the construction. Nord Stream 2 is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019.
