"This letter is to put you, your employees, your company, and your shareholders on formal legal notice. This legislation was passed specifically to immediately halt your company's work on Nord Stream 2. The only responsible course of action is for Allseas Group S.A. and its employees to stop Nord Stream 2 activities immediately", the letter said.
Earlier this week, the Senate voted in favor of the NDAA, which in an amendment sponsored by Cruz calls for mandatory sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream. Cruz and Johnson warned Allseas that sanctions against it would be implemented as soon as US President Donald Trump signs the legislation into law.
"We understand that Russia is paying Allseas a very substantial amount of money to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. However, the consequences of your company continuing to do the work-for even a single day after the President signs the sanctions legislation-would expose your company to crushing and potentially fatal legal and economic sanctions", the senators wrote.
Allseas Group S.A. is a Swiss-based contractor in offshore pipeline installation, heavy lift and subsea construction. According to its website, it employs over 4,000 people worldwide and operates a fleet of specialized heavy-lift, pipelay and support vessels, designed and developed in-house. Allseas has executed more than 300 projects and installed over 23,500 kilometers of subsea pipeline.
The Nord Stream 2 project is a joint venture between Russia's Gazprom and five European companies — France's ENGIE, Austria's OMV, the UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall. The 745-mile-long twin pipeline will carry nearly 2 trillion cubic feet of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.