Nord Stream Pipeline

Nord Stream Pipeline- Relevance for UPSC

General Studies II- Effect of Policies & Politics of Countries on India’s Interests.

In News

Russia has denied to resume the supply of natural gas through a key pipeline to Germany for now because of what it said was a need for urgent maintenance work.

There are growing concerns in European countries that Russia would shut down its gas supplies in retaliation against the current sanctions against Moscow.

What is Nord Stream 1?

• It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
• Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline that runs from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
• Two further pipelines under construction running from Ust-Luga to Lubmin termed Nord Stream 2.
• Majority owned by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, the pipeline is the primary route through which its gas enters Germany.

Worry for Europe

• There have been growing concerns that there could be further restrictions to European gas supplies.
• European countries rely on Russian energy for their cold winters.
• But now they believe that Russia could weaponized their dependency as a response to their sanction due to the conflict in Ukraine.

What are Europe’s alternative sources of energy?

• As an alternative source for energy, European countries have increasingly turned towards the US, from whom they purchase liquified natural gas (LNG) that comes via ships.
• Since ship-delivered gas ends up being far more expensive, there are also attempts to get non-Russian pipeline gas from Norway and Azerbaijan.
• While EU countries were earlier seeking to phase out fossil fuels and emphasize renewable forms of energy, many are now returning to coal to deal with the energy crisis.