Berlin: German authorities on Friday gave immediate permission for work to resume on a subsea pipeline bringing natural gas from Russia.
The decision by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency can be appealed, meaning there could be another halt to the construction on the Nord Stream 2 project, which has drawn major criticism from the United States, some other European countries and environmental groups.
The Russian state-controlled natural gas company, Gazprom, has positioned a ship to resume work on the multi-billion pipeline, which was suspended after a Swiss firm pulled its vessels out of the project amid threats of U.S. sanctions. Because the Russian ship is of a different type than the Swiss vessels, Germany had to issue the fresh authorization.
Gazprom says 6% of the pipeline, or about 150 kilometres (93 miles), still needs to be completed.
AP
