By Eurasia Business News – January 23, 2021

View on a gas pipeline – Photo credits : Quinten de Graaf on unsplash.

The volume of gas supplies to European consumers via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in 2020 rose to a record 59.2 billion cubic meters. In 2019, the pipeline supplied 58.5 billion cubic meters. Thus, gas supplies via Nord Stream last year increased by 1.2%.

“The pipeline has been used at a slightly higher level compared to previous years, thus the volume of gas transported in 2020 represents the highest level since its commissioning,” reported the Nord Stream corporate communication.

By the end of 2020, since the commissioning of the first branch of the pipeline in 2011, about 382 billion cubic meters of gas have been transported via Nord Stream. 

The Nord Stream gas pipeline consists of two lines with a length of 1,224 km and a throughput capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year each. It connects the energy system of the European Union with the largest natural gas fields directly through the Baltic Sea. The onshore continuation of Nord Stream in Germany is the NEL and OPAL gas pipelines.

Nord Stream’s shareholders are Gazprom with a 51% stake, German companies Wintershall and E.ON Ruhrgas – 15.5% each, as well as Dutch Gasunie and French Engie – 9% each.

The growing demand for gas in Europe and the decline in domestic production have made the issue of developing new transport capacities particularly critical.

Nord Stream is a 1,200 kilometers offshore gas pipeline project across the Baltic Sea. This gsa transport infrastructure connects the bay of Portovaya on the Russian coast (next to Vyborg in the Leningrad region) with Greifswald on the German coast. Nord Stream AG is the German-Russian joint venture managing the project.

The work on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline started at the end of 2005 and ended in 2011 with effective commissioning in 2012.

The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline intends to double the gas transmission capacity from Russia to Western Europe began in April 2018. However, the work was then halted in December 2019 due to opposition and sanctions from the United States.

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