SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 19 March 2024, Tuesday |

Nord Stream operator says three offshore gas pipelines damaged in one day

Nord Stream AG, the network’s operator, said on Tuesday that three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system on the Baltic Sea’s bed received “unprecedented” damage in one day.

The notice was issued after Sweden’s Maritime Authority issued a warning about two breaches in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, soon after Denmark restricted shipping in a five nautical mile radius due to a leak on the neighboring Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Nord Stream AG said it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system’s working capability would be restored.

“The destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented. It is not yet possible to estimate the timing of the restoration of the gas transport infrastructure,” it said in comments to reporters.

In 2011, Nord Stream 1, which comprises of two parallel lines with a nameplate capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters per year each, began transporting gas straight from Russia to Germany.

Flows via the pipeline, which had been operating at only 20% capacity since July, were interrupted at the end of August and did not resume after maintenance.

Russia blames the idling on malfunctioning equipment at a key compressor site and Western sanctions against Ukraine.Nord Stream 2, which runs almost in parallel to Nord Stream 1, was built in September 2021 but was never launched as Germany refused to certify it. The project was halted altogether just days before Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

    Source:
  • Reuters