Allseas has suspended its Nord Stream 2 pipelay activities, in anticipation of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),
The US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, which includes sanctions targeting companies that are providing vessels which are engaged in pipe-laying services for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipelines.
The sanctions require the Department of State to identify: vessels that are engaged in pipe-laying at depths of 100 feet or more below sea level for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 or TurkStream pipelines, or any successor projects to either pipeline; and foreign persons that have knowingly sold, leased, or provided the vessels for construction of either project or facilitated deceptive or structured transactions to provide such vessels.
Allseas said that it will proceed, consistent with the legislation’s wind down provision and expect guidance comprising of the necessary regulatory, technical and environmental clarifications from the relevant US authority.
Nord Stream 2 is a twin pipeline stretching 1,200 km through the Baltic Sea. Each line will comprise around 100,000 individual pipes, each 12 meters in length.
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will have an aggregate annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters.