(.)
Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Russia-led Nord Stream 2 consortium
is expected to start laying gas pipes in Danish waters from Jan.
15, a Danish maritime regulator said, after construction was
suspended for a year because of the threat of U.S. sanctions.
Led by Russia's Gazprom with Western partners, the
pipeline, which would double the capacity of the existing Nord
Stream 1 link, is more than 90% completed and scheduled to
operate from early 2021.
The project has split the European Union, with some members
saying it will undermine traditional gas transit state Ukraine
and increase energy reliance on Russia.
The United States, keen to increase liquefied natural gas
(LNG) sales to Europe, also opposes the pipeline and has
targeted some companies involved with sanctions.
Here are some key dates in Nord Stream 2's development:
2011
November: Nord Stream 2's forerunner, Nord Stream 1, a
consortium mainly led by Gazprom, starts deliveries through a
twin pipeline system to Europe under the Baltic Sea. The
system's 55 billion cubic metre (bcm) capacity is equivalent to
enough gas to heat 26 million households.
Gazprom and Western partners start looking into expanding
the system with another two pipelines to add a further 55 bcm of
capacity. The project is estimated to cost 9.5 billion euros
($11.3 billion).
2015
June: Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, E.ON,
OMV, BASF and ENGIE agree to
build Nord Stream 2. [https://reut.rs/3haWiiv
]
2016
March: Eight EU governments - the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Romania -
object to the project, warning it could have “potentially
destabilising geopolitical consequences."
[https://reut.rs/2FfVPyF]
2017
April: Nord Stream 2 AG signs financing agreements with
ENGIE, OMV, Shell, E.ON offshoot Uniper, and BASF's
subsidiary Wintershall. [https://reut.rs/2FgjZZZ
]
2018
January: Germany grants Nord Stream 2 a permit for
construction and operation in German waters and landfall areas
near Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
September: Pipe-laying operations start in the Baltic Sea.
2019
January - The U.S. ambassador to Germany warns companies
involved in the construction that they could face sanctions if
they stick with the project. [https://bit.ly/2FhqaN3
]
December - Swiss-Dutch company Allseas suspends its
pipe-laying activities in anticipation of U.S. President Donald
Trump signing a defence policy bill which includes sanctions on
firms laying pipes for Nord Stream 2.
December: Trump signs the bill.
2020
January: Russian President Vladimir Putin says he hopes Nord
Stream 2 will be finished by the end of the first quarter of
2021. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she believes the
project is legitimised by European regulation and therefore
should be completed. [https://reut.rs/2ZnOML8]
May: Germany's energy regulator declines to grant a waiver
of EU gas directives to the operators of the Nord Stream 2
pipeline that require separate operators for the production,
transport and distribution of energy on German territory.
May: An EU court throws out a challenge to EU gas rules from
the operators of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines,
saying it was up to individual members states to enforce them.
June: Poland starts proceedings against Gazprom, alleging
the company has not cooperated with the country's anti-monopoly
proceedings regarding Nord Stream 2. [nW8N28600O
August: Poland fines Gazprom 213 million zloty ($57 million)
for a lack of cooperation in the matter.
Sept. 3: Pressure mounts on Merkel to reconsider the
pipeline, after she says Navalny was poisoned with a
Soviet-style nerve agent.
Sept. 7: Merkel's spokesman tells German newspaper Bild am
Sonntag she has questioned the project.
Sept. 11: The premier of the German state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where Nord Stream 2 would come ashore,
says the pipeline should not be used to punish Moscow over the
Navalny case. Merkel wants to agree a response with EU
partners.
Sept. 15: Data shows a Russian ship sailed for the Nord
Stream 2 project's supply base in Germany.
Sept. 23: The world's largest group of shipping insurers
says it will not insure vessels involved in the Nord Stream 2
and TurkStream gas pipeline projects because of the threat of
U.S. sanctions.
Oct. 1: Denmark gives the Nord Stream 2 consortium
permission to operate in Danish waters.
Oct. 7: Poland fines Gazprom more than 29 billion zlotys
($7.6 billion) for building Nord Stream without Warsaw's
approval.
Nov. 4: Gazprom files an appeal in a Polish court against
that fine.
Nov. 28: Nord Stream 2 says it plans to resume pipe-laying
work on a 2.6 km stretch of the pipeline before the end of the
year.
Dec. 1: The maritime authority in the German city of
Stralsund informs shippers about pipeline-laying activities from
Dec. 5 through Dec. 31 in the Baltic sea.
Dec. 3: U.S lawmakers unveil a new U.S defense policy bill,
targeting companies and individuals providing help to the
project.
Dec. 11: Nord Stream 2 says Fortuna vessel has resumed
pipe-laying work and would lay a 2.6 km section of the pipeline
in the German Exclusive Economic Zone.
Dec. 22: The Danish Maritime Authority issued notification
of pipe-laying works for the gas pipeline from Jan. 15,
according to a publication on the regulator's website.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund and Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk
Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman
)
