31
Jan
2025

Denmark’s approval of NS2 preservation work sparks concerns

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  • Observers concerned that Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be fully repaired and flow gas in the future
  • Poland has called for a full dismantling of Nord Stream 1 and 2
  • German investigation into pipeline explosions still pending

The Danish energy regulator’s approval for a Russian company to start preservation work on the damaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline has sparked concerns that the pipeline will be fully restored and used for Russian gas exports to Germany and Europe in the future. 

Nord Stream 2 AG, subsidiary of Gazprom, plans to carry out preservation work on the pipeline in the second or third quarter of 2025, and this is expected to last 2-3 weeks, the Danish Energy Agency said this week. 

The permit has been granted on a number of conditions that are intended to ensure safe operation of the pipeline, the agency said.

“Among other things, the company must submit an annual plan for the pipeline facility so that the Danish Energy Agency can continuously monitor the company's plans for the facility's future,” it said. 

The decision comes as the Nord Stream company in September last year applied for permission to carry out work on the pipeline in the Danish exclusive zone in the Baltic Sea.

The purpose, the agency said, is to minimise the risk for the environment and people by preserving line A of the pipeline and prevent further gas leaks and flow of oxygenated seawater into the pipelines. 

Will the pipeline be restored?

Dr. Benjamin Schmitt, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said the announcement has raised the spectre of a potential future push by Nord Stream 2 AG to potentially repair and resurrect the project.

READ Nord Stream AG files court claim against insurers over pipeline explosions

“Nord Stream 2 AG has recently been given yet another extension by Swiss authorities on the bankruptcy situation of the pipeline operator in Switzerland, which only heightens this concern. There continue to be calls from pro-Kremlin political factions across Europe, including the German far-right AfD party to repair the project and return both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 to a functional state in the near future — calls that are likely bolstered by long-entrenched pro-Kremlin business circles in Western Europe, most notably in Germany and Austria,” Schmitt told Gas Matters Today. 

Schmitt said he remained convinced that European political and business actors will rapidly support a return to energy "business as usual" with Putin's Kremlin should there even be any temporary ceasefire in Ukraine. He said this needs to be resisted by Transatlantic leaders using all the legal tools they may have available.  

“Given decades of energy weaponisation by Putin's Kremlin against Europe in the natural gas sector, any attempt to re-operationalise Nord Stream 1 or Nord Stream 2 should be met with strong and permanent sanctions, legislative, and regulatory measures to ensure that the ghosts of Moscow's premiere malign energy influence initiative can never again return to haunt European security,” he said.

Schmitt's comments come as Germany is heading for elections on 23 February and as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party reportedly gains ground.

Meanwhile, Poland has called for a dismantling of the pipelines with President Andrzej Duda telling the BBC this week that gas flows from Russia to Western Europe should never be restored, even if Russia and Ukraine reach a peace deal.

READ Germany’s indirect imports of Russian LNG continue, report says

One gas analyst speaking to Gas Matters Today said string B of NS2 could be used to export Russian gas in theory as it was not damaged in the explosions.

“String B wasn’t damaged and the onshore infrastructure is still there in Russia while String A onshore infrastructure was dismantled in Russia in 2022,” he said. 

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines – which combined had 110 Bcm/year of export capacity – were damaged after a series of explosions in Danish and Swedish waters in September 2022. Nord Stream 2 has never exported commercial gas volumes as it was stuck in a regulatory limbo before the explosions. 

READ Gazprom set to lose revenues from Ukraine transit halt, re-routing options look limited

Swedish and Danish authorities have closed the investigations into the the explosions but without taking further action. A German investigation is still pending. 

TurkStream is the only functional route for supplying Russian pipeline gas to Europe at the moment after the transit deal between Ukraine and Russia expired on 1 January.  - AW

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Photo: Lisic/Shutterstock

Got a question or comment about this story or other energy matters? Drop our editor, Penny Sukhraj, a line: [email protected]

Contact the editor:

Penny Sukhraj
[email protected]

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