Denmark permits Gazprom’s Swiss subsidiary to preserve Nord Stream 2
Pravda Ukraine
The Danish Energy Agency has granted permission to Nord Stream 2 AG, Gazprom’s Swiss subsidiary, to carry out preservation work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which was damaged by a series of explosions in 2022.
Source: European Pravda with reference to the Danish Energy Agency
Details: The planned work involves installing specially manufactured plugs at each of the open pipe ends to prevent further gas blowout and injection of oxygenated seawater.
The licence is conditional upon ensuring the pipeline’s safe maintenance. Among other obligations, the company must submit an annual plan for the pipeline facilities, enabling the Danish Energy Agency to monitor its activities continuously.
Nord Stream 2 AG intends to perform the preservation work in the second or third quarter of 2025, expecting the process to take 2–3 weeks.
Background:
- The Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, in which Russia has invested billions of euros, has not been put into operation since its completion – first because of legal problems, and then because of the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
- In September 2022, one of the branches of NS2 and both branches of Nord Stream 1 were damaged by explosions, and the investigation is still ongoing.
- In 2024, Nord Stream 2 AG lost a lawsuit in the EU Court of Justice over a directive that extends the rules of the internal natural gas market to gas pipelines from third countries.
- On 27 January 2025, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that gas flows from Russia to Western Europe should never be restored, even if Russia and Ukraine reach a peace agreement.
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