This week, the gas flow through the Nord Stream pipeline has been temporarily suspended due to planned maintenance works that are carried out every year. On Monday at 07:00 am, the operation of the pipeline was stopped.
The repair of the pipeline will last until September 22. Scheduled preventive maintenance works are conducted at the Greifswald receiving terminal in Germany and at the Radeland compressor station on the OPAL gas pipeline.
According to Gazprom’s official, the undersea gas pipeline does not require large maintenance costs. Its condition is controlled by special pistons which run through the pipe from Russia to Germany.
Nord Stream includes two parallel offshore pipelines running 1,224 kilometers under the Baltic sea from Russia to Germany with throughput capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year. The pipeline route crosses economic zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany as well as territorial waters of Russia, Denmark and Germany.
The first thread of the Nord Stream pipeline was built in June 2011. First shipments of natural gas were launched in November. Construction of the second thread was completed in April 2012 with shipments launched in October 2012.
