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BERLIN, March 3 (Reuters) – Germany’s energy independence from Moscow is crucial and it is not in talks with Russia over a “possible pipeline-based supply of Russian gas” via the partly damaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the economy ministry said on Monday.
The ministry was responding to a weekend report in the Financial Times that a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is lobbying the United States to look into restarting the $11 billion project.
Germany for decades relied heavily on Russian gas, but Norway has become its biggest supplier after the Ukraine war led it to diversify.
“Independence from Russian gas is of strategic importance to the German government in terms of security policy and it is sticking to it,” Germany’s Economy Ministry said in a statement.
Germany’s NATO and EU ally Estonia also condemned any attempt at relaunching gas exports via Nord Stream 2 as “a step in the wrong direction for European energy security”.
“The right place for Nord Stream 2 is at the bottom of the sea,” Estonia Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement on Monday.
Estonia neighbours Russia and was once part of the Soviet Union. Together with its fellow Baltic nations Lithuania and Latvia, it last month completed a switch from Russia’s electricity to the EU’s system to be independent from Moscow.
Nord Stream 2, which belongs to Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM), was halted in 2022 after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
In September 2022, one of the two lines of the pipeline – which was co-funded by Shell (SHEL.L), Wintershall Dea (WINT.UL) (HBR.L), Uniper (UN0k.DE), Engie (ENGIE.PA) and OMV (OMVV.VI) – was destroyed in blasts, leaving one line intact.
A Swiss court in January extended the deadline for Nord Stream 2 to restructure its debt to May 9, adding that if that deadline was not met, the business would be declared bankrupt.
The partly damaged Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline is not certified and therefore could not be used, a German government spokesperson had said earlier, adding that certification was in the purview of the economy ministry.
Reporting by Christian Kraemer in Berlin; Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Writing by Friederike Heine and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Barbara Lewis
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