Dutch-Swiss offshore services group Allseas has pulled out of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project following the imposition of sanctions by US president Donald Trump.

The company said in a short statement that it would suspend its pipeline-laying activities ahead of the sanction act coming into force.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture between Gazprom and five European gas companies, among which Dutch-English Shell.  They have said they will press ahead with the project, despite the sanctions, the BBC reported.

The 1,200 kilometre pipeline will transport 55 billion cubic metres of Russian gas from the Jamal peninsula to Germany per year.

A year ago, the US ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, urged the Netherlands to drop its support for the project, saying the new pipeline will ‘provide Russia with a powerful new capability to control, influence and potentially undermine the West.’

Hoekstra also argued that the project, which bypasses Ukraine, will endanger the safety of that country by removing ‘any motivation for Russia to engage good faith negotiations in regards to Ukraine’.