Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News #2

The Russian pipelayer Akademik Chersky has changed course and is apparently heading for the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

This opinion was expressed in an interview with radio Sputnik by energy expert Igor Yushkov, commenting on reports that Akademik Chersky, which since December 5 has been near the unfinished section of Nord Stream 2 near Polish territorial waters, turned around and headed for northeast.

This was reported earlier by RIA Novosti, citing data from the global system MarineTraffic, which tracks the movements of ships.

According to Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Russian government, Akademik Chersky was still not at the completion point, but to the south of it. Therefore, when late Monday evening the pipelayer moved northeast, it did not go in the direction of the Russian water area, but to the point where completion of construction began.

“That is, it (the ship) really went to the north - it is in that area that the unfinished section is located. Judging by the positioning system, it will go the same way as the vessels of the Swiss company Allseas went before the US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 were imposed and the pipe-laying work was completed, ”Yushkov said.

Therefore, according to him, in the coming days it will be possible to see how our pipelayer gets to the completion point. And this move indicates that work will begin soon to complete the project.

On the eve, on Monday, December 7, the expert recalled, supply vessels scurried alongside the Akademik Chersky, which came from the German port of Mukran and, apparently, delivered pipes that the pipelayer will have to weld and lay on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. These supply vessels came close to the Akademik, which suggests that they were just overloading the pipes. Therefore, it is logical that he, with the pipes on board, headed for the completion point.

“We can conclude that construction is resuming. But it will not start from the German section, as the German regulators said, but from the Danish, and will smoothly move to the German section, the expert explained. - Another pipe-laying vessel, the Fortuna barge, will go to the Akademik Chersky. While she is in the German water area. "

Thus, the resumption of work on the construction of the Russian gas pipeline "Nord Stream - 2", most likely, can be seen in the coming days or the coming weeks, concluded Yushkov.

The British are wallowing in their usual butthurt when things go well for Russia. Here the Times is bitching about the
Vostok oil development project that will create 130,000 permanent jobs in the region. They trot out all sorts of
non squitur BS about Russia waving its "nuclear mace" around. In a fucking oil project on its own soil. Yeah,
keep it up you British twats, your inane propaganda only convinces Russians about your malicious intentions.
And as for your domestic audience, you are preaching to the choir. Really, nothing of use from this smear.

kvs wrote:

The British are wallowing in their usual butthurt when things go well for Russia.   Here the Times is bitching about the
Vostok oil development project that will create 130,000 permanent jobs in the region.   They trot out all sorts of
non squitur BS about Russia waving its "nuclear mace" around.   In a fucking oil project on its own soil.   Yeah,
keep it up you British twats, your inane propaganda only convinces Russians about your malicious intentions.
And as for your domestic audience, you are preaching to the choir.   Really, nothing of use from this smear.

After this "Covid Pandemic", the next bullshit that the west will push is climate change.

Russia needs to ignore this nonsense and continue building up in the Artic, if the west howlers, tell the west to go fuck themselves.

I know that Russia has build up military presence in the Artic, this needs to be expanded. Also roads, railways connecting to the Artic needs to be expanded(there already are but more should be better), also airports should be a priority.

Russia is seriously upgrading its Arctic infrastructure and military resources. This not some token PR exercise. This is
trillions of rubles every few years. Russia is planning to have total control over the North Sea Route. No amount of
NATzO hate propaganda will stop it. It is not going to surrender its claim to shelf resources and to allow yanqui
"patrols" in its territorial and EEZ waters.

America is shitting its pants because for the first time decades it will not have control over global shipping. It currently
controls the two main choke points: Panama and Suez. This way it engages in mafia style blackmail of all international
trade via ships, which is by far most of it. China and South East Asia will use the NSR and America will not be able to
stop them. It is trying to pull all sorts of BS about the environment and climate change to stop this liberation of
global trade transit. So it is trying to ban Russian economic activity in the name of "fragile ecosystems" when it
never applied these limitations to itself and Canada and it is trying to force shipping through the Arctic to use
"clean fuels". Again, it does not do this in the case of Panama and Suez even though ship pollution is global
and not regional (think CO2 and even sulfate aerosol from the sulfur in ship fuel).

So the whole "save the planet" shtick is a transparent dirty trick to make the NSR more expensive and thus maintain
its control racket via Panama and Suez.

JohninMK wrote:

Kiko wrote:Nord Stream 2 announced the resumption of the laying of the "Nord Stream 2":
https://ria.ru/20201211/stroitelstvo-1588808091.html

In English

MOSCOW, Dec 11-RIA Novosti.

The Fortuna pipelayer has started laying the unfinished section of Nord stream 2 in German waters, the project operator Nord Stream 2 AG said. Fortuna will lay a 2.6-kilometer section of the gas pipeline at a depth of 30 meters.

At the end of last week, the ship left the port of Wismar and set a course for Rostock. However, the pipelayer later stopped moving and stopped in the open sea near Wismar. On Wednesday afternoon, the Fortuna resumed traffic and arrived in Rostock.

The construction of the Nord stream 2 main gas pipeline involves laying two lines of gas with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic sea to Germany. It will also pass through the territorial or exclusive economic zones of Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Think someone is doing some spoofing as vesselfinder still has Fortuna safely tied up in Baltiysk.

Lot's of politics at play here methinks

Gazprom hit a dead end with Nord Stream 2

Gazprom has begun the completion of Nord Stream 2 on its own. However, in reality, he will be able to lay only 2.6 kilometers of pipeline in German territorial waters, and then - everything, there begins the Danish, where "Akademik Chersky" is prohibited from working. What, then, is Moscow counting on?

According to the data of the global positioning system of ships, "Chersky" from the site of the proposed construction went to Kaliningrad, its place was taken by the pipe-laying barge "Fortuna", designed to operate in shallow water. The remaining German section of the gas pipeline is just shallow. The departure of "Akademik" can be very symbolic.

The fact is that Gazprom's chances of actually completing the construction of Nord Stream 2 after the Swiss contractor leaves the project on its own are constantly falling, tending to zero. The paradox is that the domestic monopolist has pipe-laying vessels, but he cannot use them. Without insurance from a reputable international company, Akademik Chersky is not entitled to work in Danish territorial waters. Because of fear of US sanctions, the insurance community has made it clear that they are not very interested in all this. Since Copenhagen has shown itself to be a loyal ally of the United States, it would be extremely naive to expect the Kingdom to close its eyes to legal nuances. Especially now, when the US Congress has passed a bill that provides for new sanctions against Russian gas pipelines.Earlier, President Trump promised to veto them, but the normative act, which gained more than two-thirds of the votes in both chambers, can now overcome it.

It turns out that Gazprom is at a dead end, from which it cannot get out on its own. Completion of the rest of the pipeline depends on the mercy of a third party, which is very unfriendly to it. Despite this, the flotilla of the state corporation starts work in German waters to lay 2.6 kilometers of pipe. What for? It is possible that there is some connection with the fact that on December 17 the next press conference of President Putin will take place, at which he will undoubtedly be asked about the fate of Nord Stream 2. It is already clear that his promise to complete the construction of the gas pipeline by the first quarter of 2021 will not be fulfilled, but that way he will at least say something in response to corrosive journalists. “The work is in progress - the result will be,” something like that.

Meanwhile, the chances of actually building it, putting it into operation and then making money on it are minimal. Nord Stream 2 is half empty after the Third Energy Package applies to it, which automatically doubles its payback period. However, given the intention of Europe to cut oil and gas consumption by half in the next 20 years, and in 30 years to completely abandon them, the commercial efficiency of the gas pipeline is becoming a very controversial issue. Let's face it, the economy was initially small in it, since the main goal of Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream was to bypass Ukraine.

Alas, the naive idea of ​​the top management of the state corporation to outplay the United States in Europe has failed. Let's be honest, it was doomed from the beginning, because it was a direct consequence of the erroneous decision, taking the Crimea, leaving the rest of the Independent to the Americans. In 2014 and even in 2015, there were different options for how Moscow could retain actual control over this territory, and at the same time over the Ukrainian GTS, but did not take advantage of any of them. Instead, they began to block bypass gas pipelines, which are now being “blown off” one after another, having absorbed billions of budget funds. The incompetence of Gazprom's management was especially evident when a new transit agreement with Ukraine was signed in December last year.

Recall, according to this agreement, the domestic monopolist undertook to pump 60 billion cubic meters by the end of 2020, and 40 billion cubic meters per year in the next four years. This whole epic with Western sanctions did not teach Miller's team anything at all, and for some reason they were firmly convinced that they would be given the opportunity to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2 in 2020. As we can see, Gazprom was not allowed to do this. Now there is an artificially created shortage of capacities, since next year, instead of 40 billion cubic meters, from 55 to 85 billion cubic meters will have to be pumped through the Ukrainian GTS, depending on what winter will be and how soon the European economy will recover. For exceeding the contractual volume, you will have to pay at an increased rate, ultimately out of our pockets.

The question remains, what to do next? It is highly doubtful that the Nord Stream 2 will be allowed to complete, but it is undoubted that it will have to feed Ukraine at an increased tariff from the bounty of Gazprom for another four years. It has long been clear that no one will fight the cause of all these problems, only heroically - with the consequences. Consequently, it is necessary to revise at least the Nord Stream 2 format itself, taking advantage of the American sanctions as force majeure to abandon it without consequences for Russia (I would like to hope that the highly paid lawyers of Gazprom nevertheless provided for a force majeure clause in the agreement. - major in the form of force majeure circumstances or actions of third parties). We have to think about how to minimize and fix losses from this failed project.

As we did before it was said that the pipeline could be brought to the Kaliningrad region, at least ensuring its energy independence. For the remaining four years, while we, by the grace of Alexey Miller, will feed Ukraine, build liquefied gas plants and terminals there, from which we will be able to flexibly send LNG to any markets, whether European or Asian. The Americans want to sell expensive LNG in Europe, displacing pipeline LNG, and it's great, since Russian LNG will have a competitive advantage over it due to its short transport shoulder.

Author: Sergey Marzhetsky

NOTE: another piece of the puzzle

The author of this piece is gloating over Russia's fail, when in fact it is a win for Russia. The EU can eat "yanqui" LNG cake.
The geniuses in London and Washington think they can control the price of LNG via spot pricing dirty tricks. They will have
a historical shock coming. Spot pricing rackets only work when there is ample supply. Unlike with oil, Russia is in a position
to cut off enough supply to break any attempt to under-price its gas. EU-tards and their puppet master are screwing with
the wrong country.

Gazprom is going to withdraw $320 billion US from Cyprus (and other offshore "havens"). The lunatics. What
sort of rotten crack were they smoking even parking such cash volumes in western controlled toilets. And
these morons have had since 2013 to get their asses in gear since that is when Cyprus leaked all of the
confidential depositor data to NATzO intelligence agencies. They left it to the last minute.

Fortuna began to carefully lay Nord Stream 2

Barge Fortuna has begun to lay the unfinished section of Nord Stream 2 in the German economic zone of the Baltic Sea. The vessel started construction carefully. By the end of the year, it should cover 2.6 kilometers on each line.

According to the navigation portal Myshiptracking, yesterday, December 16, the pipe-laying barge Fortuna began to lay the Nord Stream 2. During the day, the ship passed about 300 meters. The cautious start of work is obviously due to the fact that the sea depth is 19.5 meters, the vessel has a working draft of 6.5 meters and is positioned with the help of anchors.

According to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrographic Institute (SMHI), the wave height in that region of the Baltic Sea reaches one and a half meters, and the wind speed reaches 15 meters per second.

The technical characteristics of Fortuna make it possible to lay pipes at a speed of up to one kilometer per day. Previously, the barge has already built a gas pipeline in the coastal waters of Russia.

In early December, the German Federal Office for Shipping and Hydrography (BSH) granted Nord Stream 2 a permit to construct 2.6 kilometers of both branches of Nord Stream 2 south of the Adlegrund Bank in the Baltic Sea.

The Glomar Wave vessel is located directly at the place of the welded joint with the section of the gas pipeline already built on the German side. Also in the work area are the supply vessels "Katun", "Umka" and "Baltic Researcher". The Antares Krebs and Geo vessels provide protection for the pipe-laying area. Icebreaking supply vessel Vladislav Strizhov is moored at the pier in the port of Mukran, which is the base of Nord Stream 2 in Germany and is located 44 kilometers from the unfinished section.

Previously, the project operator Nord Stream 2 AG confirmed that construction has resumed. However, the fate of the rest of the unfinished part of the gas pipeline, about 150 kilometers, is unknown. The German BSH stated that they are now considering an application for the construction of the remaining German part of the gas pipeline in the economic zone in January-April. The largest section, more than 100 kilometers along two lines, falls on Danish waters. In early December, the Danish Energy Agency told EADaily that it had not yet received an updated work plan.

Meanwhile, the pipelayer "Akademik Chersky", judging by the data of navigation portals, continues testing at the Curonian Spit near Kaliningrad. He is accompanied by the supply vessels Finwal, Erri and Artemis offshore.

Pipe-laying barge Fortuna completing construction of Nord Stream 2 changes owner
Today, 11: 09

Russia continues to withdraw from the planned US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 ships that may complete the construction of the gas pipeline. The pipe-laying barge Fortuna, which has already begun laying pipes, reportedly changed its owner again.

According to an entry in the Russian International Register of Vessels (RMRS), the pipe-laying barge Fortuna was transferred from one Russian micro-enterprise to another. The new owner of the vessel is now KBT-Rus LLC with one employee in the state, which bought the barge from Universal Transport Group LLC, which, in turn, purchased the vessel from the Hong Kong Strategic Mileage in early October 2020.

According to the media, the new change of ownership occurred against the background of a possible tightening of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, agreed by the US Congress.

Fortuna is currently located east of the German island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, where it is laying pipes on the 2,6 km long German section of the gas pipeline. Work in the exclusive economic zone of Germany may continue until December 31.

To date, the question remains open with the completion of a section of the gas pipeline in Danish waters with a length of about 150 km. Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the gas pipeline, said that further construction work on the offshore section will be announced later.

Earlier, the United States stressed that Russia has no chance of implementing the Nord Stream 2 project despite the resumption of its construction. According to a senior White House official, the Russian gas pipeline will not be completed and will never supply Russian gas to Europe.

https://en.topwar.ru/178285-truboukladochnaja-barzha-fortuna-dostraivajuschaja-severnyj-potok-2-smenila-vladelca.html

Hole wrote:How this american officials love their "allies".

This a demonstration of how much Uncle Swine-shit believes in markets and competition. "Never supply gas to Europe".
Yeah....

Date of commencement of work on laying pipes for Nord Stream 2 at the Danish section announced

Pipe-laying work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction in Danish waters will continue in January 2021. This is stated in the notice to mariners issued by the Danish Maritime Administration.

According to the notification, the Russian pipe-laying barge Fortuna will begin laying the pipeline on two parallel lines in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark starting January 15. Together with "Fortuna" the ships "Murman" and "Baltic Researcher" of the Russian marine rescue service and support vessels will work.

The section, approximately 147 km long, lies south of the Danish island of Bornholm and is to be connected to a section in German waters currently being completed by Fortuna.

On December 22, Gazprom announced the completion of the construction of the onshore section of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline in Germany and the imminent completion of the onshore section in Russia.

Meanwhile, it became known that the multifunctional rescue vessel "Murman" left the port of Mukran and entered the route of the unfinished section of the gas pipeline in the Danish economic zone of the Baltic Sea. On the morning of December 23, Murman began exploring the seabed along the gas pipeline route using remote-controlled underwater vehicles. Such work is carried out before and immediately after the laying of the gas pipeline to monitor the state of the route.

So why transfer the Akademik Cherskiy to the Baltic Sea if they are not going to use it? Seems that Fortuna will be doing all the work.
And Denmark approved the use of the Fortuna months ago.