Nord Stream Pipeline

Facts for Prelims

Nord Stream Pipeline

News: The recent claims made by investigative journalists regarding the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines (September 2022) have ignited intense discussions and controversies.

Background:
 A series of underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022. Seismologists detected the cause for the leak to be explosions under the sea in the same area.

About:
 The Nord Stream pipeline is a natural gas pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia and Germany. The pipeline was built with the aim of transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe, bypassing traditional transit countries such as Ukraine.
 There are 2 Nord Stream Pipelines.
 Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline running from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
 Nord Stream 2, which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad (Russia) to Lubmin, has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year once it becomes fully operational.

Importance of Pipeline:
 For EU – Reliable and cost-effective source of Natural Gas.
 For Russia – It has largest natural gas reserves in the world and around 40% of its budget is financed from sales of Oil and Natural gas.