HomeNewsDenmark to allow preservation work on damaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Denmark to allow preservation work on damaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline

1/29/2025
  • Nord Stream 2 allowed to preserve damaged pipeline
  • Preservation needed to reduce environment, safety risks
  • Gas remains in pipe damaged in 2022 blasts

Denmark's energy agency on Tuesday said it had granted Nord Stream 2 AG, a unit of Russia's Gazprom, permission to conduct preservation work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which was damaged in a series of blasts in 2022.

The maintenance work is necessary to reduce environmental and safety risks stemming from the pipeline being filled with seawater and remaining natural gas, the agency said in a statement.

"The work aims to preserve the damaged pipeline by installing customized plugs at each of the open pipe ends to prevent further gas blow-out and the introduction of oxygenated seawater," it said.

Nord Stream 2 AG completed the $11-B pipeline project in 2021 to pump gas from Russia to Germany. But Germany halted the plan as relations with Moscow broke down ahead of Russia's war in Ukraine, while the United States imposed sanctions.

In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1. No one has taken responsibility for causing the damage.

The damaged line of NS2 is estimated to still contain approximately 9 MMm3–10 MMm3 of natural gas, while the intact line remains filled with gas, the Danish agency said.

The United States in December issued further sanctions on the operator and other Russian entities saying it considers Nord Stream 2 a Russian geopolitical project and opposes efforts to revive it.

Both the United States and Ukraine have denied having anything to do with the attacks as has Russia. Moscow, without providing evidence, has blamed Western sabotage for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European market.

 

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