The company said that the construction of Line 1 is progressing on schedule, and it will start transporting gas from Russia to customers in the European Union in late 2011.
Using up to three pipelay vessels and a flotilla of support ships, the Nord Stream consortium’s partners have constructed and laid more than 600km of pipe along different sections of the route.
Saipem’s Castoro Sei pipelay vessel started construction in April in the Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off Gotland, laying pipe in an easterly direction into Finnish waters before laying down the pipe and moving on to Russian waters, where it laid sections of both pipelines and participated in the shore-pull at Portovaya Bay, near Vyborg.
The main contractor’s vessel Castoro Sei then moved south to pick up another section of the first pipeline in German waters where Saipem’s Castoro Dieci had completed 27km shallow-water section of both pipelines at the German landfall.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the 1,224km pipeline route, Allseas’ 300m long Solitaire has reached the Finnish EEZ after laying a key section in Russian waters.
The EUR7.4bn Nord Stream project, which is privately financed, is the most advanced of the major new gas pipelines, according to the company.
