According to Gazprom, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany remains on schedule. Commissioning is still expected at the end-2020 or early 2021. Earlier in June 2020, Nord Stream 2 applied for a permit to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors to complete the 55 bcm/year Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish waters. The Danish Energy Agency is expected to make a decision within a month, on an administrative basis and in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In January 2020, Russia postponed the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 from mid-2020 to the end of 2020 or early 2021, due to US sanctions against the gas pipeline that could delay the projects by several months. In May 2020, the General Court of the European Union dismissed Nord Stream 2’s project developers challenge to EU unbundling regulations. The same month, the German regulator (Bundesnetzagentur) had refused to grant a derogation from EU unbundling regulations to Nord Stream 2 operators for the section of the gas pipeline located in Germany. The gas pipeline project is being built by a consortium associating Gazprom (50%), Uniper, Shell, OMV, Wintershall, and Engie (10% each). The project, which will double the throughput of the current Nord Stream pipeline, is causing controversy as Germany would increase its dependence on Russian gas while bypassing Ukraine.