Expert: The remaining string of Nord Stream 2 may come on stream

A Swiss court has granted Nord Stream 2 AG a moratorium on payments to creditors for another six months. The court in Switzerland granted Nord Stream 2 AG a moratorium on payments to creditors for another six months.

The bankruptcy procedure of the operator of the gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 has been extended for another six months, the website of the Swiss Official Gazette reports.

According to the published information, the court of the Swiss canton of Zug has granted the Nord Stream 2 AG project operator a moratorium on payments to creditors for another six months – until 10 July 2023.

In September, the court had already suspended the operator’s bankruptcy proceedings until 10 January 2023.

At the end of September, a gas leak was detected at the Russian pipelines Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. The Swedish Seismic Centre recorded underwater explosions in the vicinity of the accident. Later on, it turned out that two strings of Nord Stream and one of the strings of Nord Stream 2 were damaged. German and Danish authorities do not rule out that the accident was caused by sabotage.

Yuriy Rykov, head of the Energy Department of the Institute of Energy and Finance, shared his opinion on the reasons for the new postponement of the Nord Stream 2 AG bankruptcy procedure on the air of Radio Sputnik.

“This procedure has already been postponed and this most likely means that they are trying to preserve the option of functioning of Nord Stream and use these pipes in some way. The most interested party, Germany, does not have enough gas. It is not possible to implement Berlin’s declared plans to completely abandon Russian energy carriers at once, they will try to use something for a certain period of time… Maybe Germany is thinking in this direction,” the expert said.

He admitted that Germany might want to use the undamaged Nord Stream-2 pipeline to import Russian gas.

“I do not rule out that the remaining Nord Stream-2 string will still work, at least on a temporary basis, because Germany will not have enough gas for the foreseeable future,” Yuriy Rykov added.

Written by admin