The Danish Energy Agency has asked the developers of the 55 bcm/year Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project to study a third route option for the pipeline in Danish waters. In the Danish waters, the proposed route would cross existing and planned power and communication cables, along with the existing Nord Stream twin pipeline. The third route would run south of Bornholm, in the continental shelf area, where Denmark could assess the project from a foreign security policy point of view.
The €9.5bn (US$11bn) Nord Stream 2 project is developed by Gazprom (50%), Uniper, Shell, OMV, Wintershall and Engie (10% each) and is aimed at doubling the throughput of the current Nord Stream route between Vyborg (Russia) and Greifswald (Germany), from 55 bcm/year to 110 bcm/year. The 1,230-km long pipeline project has been approved in Finland, Sweden, Germany and Russia and is already under construction in Germany with the aim to flow first gas by the end of 2019. Denmark is the sole country that has not yet issued a construction permit. This third route option might delay the project commissioning.