Monitoring Shows Only Minor Impacts of Nord Stream Pipeline

On-going environmental monitoring of the Nord Stream Pipeline has shown that environmental impacts of pipeline construction are minor, local and short-term only.

The finding on the construction of the two 1,224 km offshore pipelines through the Baltic Sea were were presented by Nord Stream AG at the Baltic Sea Days in St. Petersburg.

Nord Stream invested over 100 million euros into environmental studies, planning and route design from planning to completion of the project. More than 40 million euros of the overall investment were devoted exclusively to the environmental monitoring system. During construction, 22 renowned companies were contracted to analyse 16 scientific subjects at about 1,000 sampling locations along the route from 2010 to 2012. The geophysical surveys covered roughly 40,000 line kilometres. After construction, data associated with the reinstatement and recovery of the Baltic Sea were also recorded and analysed.

Nord Stream indicated that the results shows responsibility for the environment and its objectives – to minimize the pipeline length, to avoid environmentally sensitive areas, and to keep restrictions on marine users to a minimum – were successfully met. The findings of the analyses of the data show no unexpected environmental effects. All measured impacts were minor, locally confined and short-term only.