Russia decides what to do next with blown up Nord Stream

Moscow will have to revive the gas pipeline at its own expense

Against the backdrop of the aggravated military-political conflicts around the explosions at Nord Stream, the Reuters news that Russia was going to seal up and mothball the damaged pipeline strings passed almost unnoticed. Does this mean that Moscow has completely “buried” this gas transportation project, or will it be possible to “re-mothball” the pipes after some time? This question “MK” addressed to the director of the Institute of National Energy Sergei Pravosudov.

– According to Reuters, the blown-up Nord Streams will be sealed and mothballed – Russia has no plans to repair them. To what extent is such a decision justified? Maybe it is worth repairing gas pipelines and waiting for the West to ease sanctions to resume supplies of “blue fuel” from Russia?

– Conservation is the only correct and reasonable decision that can be made in the current conditions regarding the fate of the Nord Streams. If gas buyers – Europeans openly declare that they are not going to import Russian fuel and there are no officially contracted volumes of supplies, then it is economically unjustified to carry out a full repair of pipelines, the costs of which threaten to exceed investments in the creation of export routes themselves. First, it is necessary to wait until Brussels allows exports to be established through at least one of the capable Nord Stream lines, and then decide how much to spend on restoring transportation through the three exploded segments.

– Previously, it was said that Russia could somehow use that part of the gas pipeline that was laid through our territory. How exactly?

– Indeed, it is better for us to take care of what can be produced at our end of the pipe – on the land part of the highway. The capacity of the plant for the production of liquefied gas at the Portovaya station, located in the Leningrad Region, can be increased from the current 1.5 million to 3.5 million tons per year, which will expand the sales geography of Russian LNG. It is also possible to set up production here, for example, of ammonia, which is not subject to sanctions, so this gas, which is widely in demand for the manufacture of mineral fertilizers, can be safely supplied to all regions of the world.

– Let’s return, however, to the process of conservation. What he really is?

– Compressor stations providing gas pumping through the Nord Streams are located on the coast, so they were not damaged as a result of terrorist attacks. For the pipeline distance itself, the project does not plan the creation and operation of such facilities. Therefore, I believe, the conservation process will consist in pumping out the sea water that has penetrated into the damaged sections of the pipeline and preventing further condensate flow, including into the sections of the system that are ready for operation. First, a special probe will have to be launched into the pipe, with the help of which it will be possible to assess the scale of the accident, find the main areas of necessary repair work and work out the initial plan for the restoration campaign. A similar probe, then launched into the pipe, will allow, by injecting pressure, to release the destroyed threads from accumulated moisture and outline the nodes where it is necessary to install plugs to protect against rust and other corrosion in the future.

– How much time and money will be required for these works? Which companies will be involved in the work?

– It depends on the results of the pipe diagnostics, the calculation of the damage caused by the explosions, and an outline of at least the initial project of the necessary technological work and the required components. At the same time, it is worth considering the possibility of using the remaining gas pipeline capacities, in particular, to expand the production of liquefied fuel. In the West, the explosions and the investigation into the causes of the catastrophe serve, rather, as “horror stories” to influence internal political processes. Therefore, apparently, the resuscitation of the Baltic pipelines will require significant financial investments, which Russia will have to invest on its own, without attracting, as it happened before, foreign commodity giants. If the results of the survey show that after the repair the profitability of the pipeline will still remain negative, then the most logical solution would be the complete conservation of the gas transmission system.