Nord Stream AG said yesterday that "the laybarge Fortuna has started works in the construction corridor in the Danish EEZ, ahead of the resumption of the Nord Stream 2 construction."

The work will mark the final stretch in the construction of the controversial pipeline and the Kremlin appears determined to build the last few kilometers, U.S. - led sanctions be damned.

In a new move designed to increase pressure on the Kremlin, European Union lawmakers passed a resolution last Thursday calling for the bloc to stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 in response to the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Nord Stream 2 cited a Danish Maritime Authority notice about resuming work on 15 January with Fortuna, which had worked in the German zone last month. The group had earlier said activities would include preparatory work and tests before pipe-laying started.

Gazprom’s western partners in the project, estimated to cost 9.5 billion euros ($11.5 billion), are Germany’s Uniper, BASF’s Wintershall Dea, Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, Austria’s OMV and French energy company Engie.