June 2012 Vol. 239 No. 6

Projects

Nord Stream Completes Line 2 Ahead of Schedule

The Nord Stream Project took another step forward May 8 with completion of offshore pipelay of the second of its twin 1,224-km gas pipelines through the Baltic Sea ahead of schedule.

Following extensive pre-commissioning and commissioning, Line 2 is scheduled to begin transporting gas toward the end of 2012 as part of a fully automated twin-pipeline gas transport system capable of transporting 55 Bcm/y from Russia to the European Union for at least 50 years.

The pipelines were laid along a carefully planned route on the Baltic Sea floor by three pipelay vessels. Some 138,850 welds were performed for both lines to join together the pipes laid by the Castoro Sei (C6), which has been working on the Nord Stream project since April 2010.