Relatively self-sufficient gas producer Denmark could remain an important voice on issues in the Baltic Sea region, particularly those regarding energy security. As Germany weighed sanctions after the poisoning of Navalny, Poland and Denmark offered Germany access to Baltic Pipe if it halted construction on NS2. For both countries, this means their joint Baltic Pipe project – last slated for completion in October 2022 – which will pipe gas from Norway through Denmark to Poland. However, both have an interest in shaping the European gas market and the discussion around it. Poland and Denmark’s voices are often excluded from the mainstream discourse on this pipeline. It must now find service providers who can issue certifications without being impacted by the sanctions, but are also legitimate enough to be accepted by the Danish Energy Agency. Russia is already encountering difficulty finding insurers for its Arctic projects due to sanctions. The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs, the largest insurance association for shipping, circulated a notice in late September that it would not insure members who take part in activities for either NS2 or TurkStream. Gazprom then transferred ownership of the pipe-laying ship Akademik Chersky to the murky Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund.
In January, Russian officials estimated that NS2 could be operational by the end of the year or in early 2021. This date, however, was pushed out by US sanctions in December 2019, which prompted Swiss company Allseas to halt pipe-laying for the project.
The pipeline was originally expected to come online in mid-2020. The projected completion date for NS2 is unclear.
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