Nord Stream 2 AG receives Denmark's permission to work on preserving damaged gas pipeline

MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - The Danish Energy Agency has granted permission to Gazprom's Swiss subsidiary, Nord Stream 2 AG, to carry out maintenance work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, the agency said.

This includes installing specially made plugs on the open ends of the pipe to prevent seawater from entering and gas from escaping into the atmosphere.

The agency estimates that the work could be conducted in the second or third quarter of 2025 and is expected to last two to three weeks.

Before installing the plugs, the damaged ends of each of the two open pipeline sections need to be cut. Following the installation work, the pipeline ends will be covered with rocks and concrete ballast. This is necessary, among other reasons, to protect against external impacts, particularly those resulting from fishing activities.

According to Danish officials, the estimated service life of the insulating plugs is 10 years, but this estimate could be extended following a more thorough assessment.

The work will be carried out using a dynamically positioned vessel as well as an underwater vehicle. It is not yet known which vessel will be used for the operation or which contractor will be involved.

The Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipeline with capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year runs from the Slavyanskaya compressor station in the Kingisepp District of Russia's Leningrad Region to the Baltic Sea coast of Germany. The German authorities previously halted the certification process for the pipeline, and the United States added the Nord Stream 2 AG project company to the sanctions list.

Both pipelines were previously filled with gas and ready for operation. Powerful explosions damaged one of the two pipelines in September 2022.