Another European company withdraws from Nord Stream 2 project
European companies continue to flee the Nord Stream 2 project under the threat of US sanctions.
After the U.S. State Department began sending out warnings demanding leaving the construction, "until it was too late", the Danish engineering corporation Ramboll decided to abandon cooperation with Russian gas giant Gazprom.
According to Politiken, the company with a 70-year history, the largest in Denmark in the engineering and architecture sector, decided to stop participating in the construction of the pipeline which has only about 130 km remaining to be laid at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
The company did not comment on the withdrawal from the project or its reasons. “Unfortunately, we will not comment on this," a Rambol spokesman said.
On January 3, it became known that the Norwegian certification and classification company Det Norske Veritas (DNV GL) had refused to participate in Nord Stream 2.
The decision was made because of new U.S. sanctions that came into force on January 1, after Congress overrode President Trump’s veto of the bill.
Another package of restrictive measures prohibits, among other things, services for testing, verification or certification of the pipeline.
"DNV GL will stop all compliance verification activities of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as long as the sanctions remain in force. We are implementing a plan to curtail our support for the certification of the project," the company said in a statement.
In September, an international group of Protection and indemnity insurance of shipowners (The International Group of P&I Clubs) refused to work with Nord Stream 2.
The association, which represents 13 international maritime insurance clubs, said none of its members would provide insurance coverage to vessels involved in the pipeline's construction.