ZUG, SWITZERLAND (Commodity Online): The simultaneous work of three vessels on the same leg of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea is rare for the industry, the project consortium said.

Russian gas company Gazprom leads an international consortium building the dual Nord Stream natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. The project will move gas from the Russian coast of the Gulf of Finland to Germany. It diversifies Russia's gas transit options by moving around Ukraine, a transit country for 80 percent of Russian gas bound for Europe.

Brian McLean, Nord Stream's project manager for offshore work, said three vessels are building the same section of the pipeline at a rate of nearly 4 miles per day.

"This is a very rare event in the industry," the consortium quoted him as saying.

The consortium added it was using about 11,000 tons of pipes each day during peak construction times so far in September.

Construction for Nord Stream started April 9 in the Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea when operators placed the first 2 miles of the pipeline on the sea floor.

The first pipeline for Nord Stream is scheduled for operation as early as next year. The project could move more than 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas to European markets when both pipelines enter service in 2012. (iWireNews and OfficialWire)