Nord Stream 2 operator announces when pipe inspection will begin

MOSCOW, 4 Oct — PRIME. Nord Stream 2 AG will begin surveying Nord Stream 2 after the completion of the police investigation on the spot and the removal of the cordon, the gas pipeline operator told RIA Novosti.

“The operator of Nord Stream 2 is interacting with all involved government agencies and will begin to survey and assess the condition of the gas pipeline when the police investigation at the crime scene is completed and the cordon is removed,” the company said.

Nord Stream 2 AG clarified that the Copenhagen police are now investigating a crime scene on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in the Swedish EEZ the leak area is cordoned off by the Swedish Coast Guard.

The attacks took place on September 26 at once on two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe – Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. Germany, Denmark and Sweden do not rule out targeted sabotage. The Nord Stream operator Nord Stream AG reported that the state of emergency on gas pipelines is unprecedented and it is impossible to estimate the repair time.

On October 3, Gazprom reported that the pressure in the damaged Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines had stabilized, gas leaks had stopped, and gas was being pumped out of another Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to check its integrity. In turn, the Swedish Coast Guard said that day that a “smaller” leak from Nord Stream 2 was continuing and even increasing slightly.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation initiated the initiation of a case on an act of international terrorism after the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking about the sabotage on the Nord Stream, said that the Anglo-Saxons are no longer enough sanctions, they have begun to destroy the pan-European energy infrastructure.

The operation of Nord Stream has been suspended since the end of August due to problems with the repair of Siemens turbines caused by Western sanctions, but the pipeline remained filled with gas. Nord Stream 2, completed in 2021 but never put into operation, has also already been filled with gas.