In early June, Nord Stream 2 asked -- as a precautionary measure -- for an amendment to its Danish pipelaying permit to allow the potential use of pipelay ships that use anchors for positioning.

Just 160 km (99 miles) of Nord Stream 2 is left to lay in Danish waters out of the total 2,460 km length after the US first implemented sanctions in December.

"I can briefly confirm that we continue to work on this project and expect that its construction will be completed at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021,"

Nord Stream 2 has asked -- as a precautionary measure -- for an amendment to its Danish pipelaying permit to allow the potential use of pipelay ships that use anchors for positioning.

Many politicians and energy companies in Germany support Nord Stream 2

Nord Stream 2 has until June 14 to appeal the BNetzA decision.

In November 2019, the German parliament modified the Energy Industry Act to transpose the European Gas Directive that was amended in April 2019.

The Nord Stream 2 operating company has declined to give any guidance on the schedule for completing the pipeline, saying only that it was "actively looking for solutions" to finish the pipelaying work.

Significant volumes of Russian gas currently are transited to Germany via Poland, which are a key revenue generator for the country.

Construction works on the 55 Bcm/year Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea were abruptly interrupted in late December after the US government implemented new sanctions threatening measures against contractors building the project.