Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• German Chancellor Merz: Germany plans to do all it takes to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline offline.

• Nord Stream 2, an $11-billion project to carry Russian natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea following the Nord Stream route, was built at the end of the 2010s.

• Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that sanctions on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines could be part of the new EU sanctions package against Russia.

Germany plans to do all it takes to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline offline, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.

“We will do everything in this context to ensure that Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into operation,” Merz said, as quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Germany will continue to increase the pressure on Russia, the chancellor added.

Nord Stream 2, an $11-billion project to carry Russian natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea following the Nord Stream route, was built at the end of the 2010s. However, the pipeline was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process in early 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September of 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.

In a suspected sabotage, gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea were discovered at the end of September 2022.

Debates on the pipelines continue despite the fact that they haven’t shipped any gas to Germany for more than two and a half years.

Speculation has intensified in recent weeks that a revival of the pipelines could be a part of a deal for the end of the war in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that sanctions on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines could be part of the new EU sanctions package against Russia.

The EU has started talks and is already working on the 18th package of sanctions, which could include, for example, sanctions on Nord Stream 1 and 2, listing more vessels of the Russian shadow fleet, and lowering the oil price cap on Russia’s crude, von der Leyen added.