The transaction was closed in July 2010. In August 2008, Nord Stream AG hired former Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen as a consultant to help speed up the application process in Finland and to serve as a link between Nord Stream and Finnish authorities. In December 2007, Nord Stream AG submitted application documents to the Swedish government for the pipeline construction in the Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone. In February 2008, the Swedish government rejected the consortium's application, which it had found incomplete. A new application was filed later. In October 2009, Nord Stream received a construction permit to build the pipeline in Danish waters. In November 2009, the Swedish and Finnish authorities permitted the laying of the pipeline in their exclusive economic zones. In February 2010, the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland issued the final environmental permit allowing construction of the Finnish section of the pipeline. Construction of the Portovaya compressor station in Vyborg, near the Gulf of Finland, began in January 2010. The first pipe of the pipeline was laid in April 2010 in the Swedish exclusive economic zone by the Castoro Sei vessel, which continued to lay most of the distance. The Castoro 10 performed pipe work near Germany, and Solitaire was pipe-laying near Finland. Construction of the pipeline was officially launched in April 2010 at Portovaya Bay. The first pipe was completed in May 2011. Underwater works were completed in June 2011. In August 2011, Nord Stream was connected to the German OPAL pipeline, with the first gas delivery pumped in September 2011. Construction of the second pipe was completed in August 2012 and inaugurated in October 2012. The pipeline was officially inaugurated in November 2011 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, French Prime Minister François Fillon, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a ceremony held in Lubmin. During a routine annual checkup in November 2015, a small, remotely operated mine-disposal vehicle was found lying near the pipeline near Öland in the Baltic Sea. As the craft lay in Swedish territorial waters, Nord Stream requested the Swedish Navy to remove it. Although the nominal capacity of the pipeline is , it transported in 2021. On 25 July 2022, Gazprom announced it would reduce gas flows to Germany to 20% of the maximum capacity, or 50% of the current throughput. The company shut down the pipeline for 10 days because of maintenance