Denmark’s Energy Agency announced on January 28 that it had authorised Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, to carry out preservation work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was significantly damaged in a series of explosions in 2022, widely concluded to have been a sabotage attack.

The agency stated that the maintenance efforts aim to mitigate environmental and safety risks caused by the pipeline’s current condition, which includes being filled with seawater and residual natural gas. “The work aims to preserve the damaged pipeline by installing customised plugs at each of the open pipe ends to prevent further gas blow-out and the introduction of oxygenated seawater,” the agency explained.

Nord Stream 2 AG completed the $11bn pipeline project in 2021 to transport gas from Russia to Germany. However, Germany suspended the project as relations with Moscow deteriorated in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a decision compounded by US  sanctions.

In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged in unexplained explosions, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1. Responsibility for the blasts remains unclaimed.

According to the Danish Energy Agency, the damaged section of Nord Stream 2 is still estimated to contain approximately 9-10mn cubic metres of natural gas, while the intact section remains filled with gas.

In December, the US imposed additional sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and other Russian entities, reiterating its opposition to the pipeline, which it has described as a geopolitical tool of Russia. Some German politicians, including head of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, have called for Nord Stream 2’s remaining undamaged second string to be put into operation. AfD has seen a surge in the polls ahead of Germany’s general election due to take place on February 23. It is currently in second place, ten points behind the centre-right CDU/CSU.

Both the US and Ukraine have denied involvement in the explosions, while Russia, without providing evidence, has accused Western nations of sabotage. The damage to the pipelines significantly curtailed Russian gas exports to the European market.

A Swiss court recently extended the deadline for Nord Stream 2 AG to restructure its debts, from January 10 until May 9. If it fails to do so in time, it will be declared bankrupt. Earlier this month Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the bankruptcy of sale of the pipeline would amount to theft. A US investor and GOP donor Stephen Lynch expressed interest in acquiring the company and its pipeline last November at bankruptcy auction, saying this represented an “unprecedented opportunity to establish American and European control over European energy supplies until the end of the fossil fuel era.”