* Chief Project Officer Henning Kothe left company
* Successor is in place, name not yet disclosed
* Consortium challenging German regulator ruling
(Recasts with fresh statement from consortium, adds news on
German law appeal)
BERLIN/FRANKFURT, June 19 (Reuters) - Nord Stream 2 (NS2),
the company for building a transport link for Russian gas into
Germany under the Baltic Sea, on Friday said a departing top
manager had already been replaced, allowing progress of the
project.
Earlier, the consortium confirmed a report in German
magazine WirtschaftsWoche that Chief Project Officer Henning
Kothe had left the company for personal reasons.
"Mr Kothe has been replaced with an experienced employee who
has been involved in the project for years and also in NS2's
forerunner, Nord Stream 1," a spokesman for the
Switzerland-based consortium said.
The name could not yet been unveiled because of procedures
regarding entries in company registries, he said.
The Nord Stream 2 Russian gas pipeline consortium under the
lead of Gazprom includes as western partners Uniper
, Wintershall-Dea, Royal Dutch
Shell, OMV and Engie.
U.S. senators this month announced a bill expanding
sanctions on the project which Washington says will boost
Moscow's economic and political influence in Germany and other
European countries.
Many politicians and energy companies in Germany and western
Europe support Nord Stream 2, as Europe's biggest economy seeks
to end using coal and nuclear energy while the region is running
out of indigenous gas resources.
Two Russian-owned pipe-laying vessels may finish the
remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the project this year or early
in 2021, subject to permits, environmental considerations and
benign weather, Russia's government has said.
However, Denmark's energy agency still has to take a
decision, due within four weeks, on whether the ships can
maneuver through its waters.
Separately, the consortium on Friday confirmed that it
filed an appeal on June 15 against last month's decision by
Germany's energy network regulator to reject a waiver of
European Union directives for the NS2 section that runs through
German territory on June 15.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Vera Eckert, Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)
