YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2022) SAKHALINSK, September 29 (Sputnik) - The Nord Stream pipelines may take up to a year to be repaired due to the process being technology-intensive and requiring building underwater construction or high load capacity cranes, which may allow the repairs to be conducted on the water surface, Pavel Zavalny, Chairman of the Committee on Energy and the president of the Russian Gas Society, said on Thursday.
"The repairs may be conducted in two ways. One way is to build a caisson (a watertight retaining structure) that will be guided to the pipe. The work will be carried out in the caisson by replacing or fixing the pipe as the depth allows it. It is necessary to create a complex engineering underwater structure, so the deadlines, the project, production, work may take not even months, it may take longer," Zavalny said on the sidelines of the Sakhalin Oil and Gas 2022 Far Eastern Energy Forum.
The official also said that there is no possibility of quick repairs, stressing that the sanctions imposed against Russia may hinder realization of more convenient fixing methods.
"The second option is to lift the pipe. We need high load capacity cranes of about 3,000 tonnes which would enable the lifting of the pipeline's string to the surface to conduct the repairs ... It may take no less than from half a year to one year," Zavalny added.
On Monday, Nord Stream AG pipeline operator told Sputnik that a landfall dispatcher had registered a rapid gas pressure drop on Line A of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The incident occurred in Danish waters near the island of Bornholm. Later in the day, the operator also said that a pressure drop had been registered on both strings of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The Swedish and Danish authorities said they had detected undersea explosions, while Polish officials as well as officials from other countries said the damage on the pipelines came as a result of sabotage.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is the main gas supply route to Europe, had been operating at 40% of its capacity since mid-June and declined further to 20% in July as Western sanctions impeded the return of the pipeline's turbines after repairs in Canada.
