OREANDA-NEWS. The head of the Austrian oil and gas company OMV Rainer Seele announced at a press conference that the delay in issuing by Denmark a permit for the construction of the “Nord Stream – 2” gas pipeline had not yet affected the project implementation dates, but even in the case of time shifts all time logs would be compensated.

Seele said that the project was realized on schedule and within the budget. OMV have already filed to Denmark requests on three different routes. The top manager noted that it’s too early to speculate on whether there will be a delay in the implementation of the project or not. He also reported that “Nord Stream 2 AG”, the consortium for construction and operation of the pipeline, made its work perfectly, it went very fast, so any delay in the deadlines could be compensated.

According to the schedule, “Nord Stream – 2” should be completed at the end of 2019 and put into operation on January 1, 2020. Its construction at the moment is complicated by the adoption of a more strict EU gas directive and the absence of a building permit in the territorial waters of Denmark.

Now the Danish Energy Agency is considering three applications on the “Nord Stream 2” route, and no one has yet been answered. At the same time, the construction of the pipeline continues, and almost half of the double-pipes have been laid.

“Nord Stream – 2” is one of the bypass routes around Ukraine. It is laid from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Its main goal in the future, when domestic production in the EU falls, is to provide European countries with the necessary volumes of imported gas.