Nord Stream suffers damage to three offshore gas pipelines
The network operator said it was impossible to estimate when the Nord Stream network would be fixed and back up and running
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The Nord Stream gas pipeline system endured "unprecedented" damage to three offshore lines on the bed of the Baltic Sea in one day, Nord Stream AG, the network's operator, said on Tuesday.
The 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," the operator told reporters.
Nord Stream 1 features two parallel lines with a nominal capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters per year each and started supplying gas directly from Russia to Germany in 2011.
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FILE- The Nord Stream gas pipeline system endured "unprecedented" damage to three offshore lines in one day, Nord Stream AG, the network's operator, said on Tuesday. (Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Flows through the pipeline, which had been working at just 20% capacity since July, were stopped at the end of August and were not resumed after maintenance was finished.
Russia attributes the problem to faulty equipment at a key compressor station and Western sanctions over its war against Ukraine.
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FILE- The AG said it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system’s working capability would be restored. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber / AP Newsroom)
Nord Stream 2 runs almost parallel to Nord Stream 1. Nord Stream 2 was built in September 2021 but was never launched because Germany would not certify it. The project was stopped altogether just days ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The damaged lines come after ships were directed on Monday to steer clear of a five nautical mile radius off the island of Bornholm following an overnight gas leak from the defunct Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline that had drained into the Baltic Sea, followed by Sweden's Maritime Authority issuing a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
FILE- The operator said the "destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented." (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File / AP Newsroom)
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The operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline also said Monday that a pressure drop had occurred on both lines of the gas pipeline.
Reuters contributed to this report.