Here’s How the Nord Stream Gas Pipelines Could be Fixed

upstart writes:

The first step will be figuring out the extent of the damage and then the difficulties really begin:

Until Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were a key part of Europe's energy infrastructure. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Nord Stream lines supplied 18% of all Europe's gas imports. [...]

Since then, Nord Stream has become a geopolitical pawn as Russia has retaliated for economic sanctions imposed upon it after the invasion. [...]

Then, in late September, unexpected damage caused four leaks in the subsea pipeline system. Everyone except Russia believes it's sabotage by the pariah state as it attempts to squeeze supplies ahead of a tricky winter energy shortage in Europe, where countries are already planning to cut back on energy use.

[...] What we do know is that any mission will be an unprecedented challenge for the oil and gas sector, requiring complex robotics and imaginative engineering.

And while we don't even know for sure how bad the situation is, the damage is expected to be significant: the September 26 blasts believed to have caused the pipeline ruptures registered 2.2 on the Richter scale, according to the Swedish National Seismic Network. [...]

No matter who did it, it was deliberate, says van der Beukel. "These pipelines normally simply don't break down," he says. The steel Nord Stream pipes are 1.6 inches thick, with up to another 4.3 inches of concrete wrapped around them. Each of the 100,000 or so sections of the pipeline weighs 24 metric tons.

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