During the month of September, three pipelay barges or vessels will simultaneously be working on the Nord Stream Pipeline. This four-week period is unique for the Nord Stream project and for pipeline projects in general. In an interview, Ruurd Hoekstra, Nord Stream’s Deputy Director of Construction and Brian McLean, Nord Stream’s Project Manager Offshore, explain how construction activities are progressing.

Why is the fact that three vessels are now laying sections of the Nord Stream Pipeline so unique?
Ruurd Hoekstra: This is because in a normal pipeline project you lay pipe from A to B, so you start somewhere and you end up somewhere. In our project, each of the two pipelines is being built in three sections, and these sections will be connected underwater by hyperbaric tie-in.

Each of the three sections have different design pressure as the pressure is highest where the pipeline begins in Russia, and lowest at the receiving station in Germany due to the length of the pipeline. The decision to lay the pipeline in three sections enables us to work on each section with an individual pipelay barge or vessel.