Everything seemed to be going smoothly for Gazprom and its 9.5 billion euro Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Germany had signed on in support, as had European energy majors like Shell, OMV, Engie, and Uniper and Wintershall despite a torrent of criticism from US President Donald Trump and leaders in the Baltics and Poland. The original plan was to have gas pumping by Christmas of this year, which happens to be when the government of Ukraine is due to renegotiate its transit deal with Russia.

But then the Danish regulators got involved.