The massive pipeline that never delivered a single cubic metre of gas

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Designed to double Russia's gas capacity to Europe, the Nord Stream 2 project became a geopolitical lightning rod. Despite being completed in 2021, the 1,234-kilometre pipeline never entered service, ultimately becoming the site of the largest methane release in human history following suspected sabotage.

The Nord Stream 2 project was conceived in 2011 to expand the existing Nord Stream 1 line, aiming to increase annual capacity to 110 billion cubic metres. Financed by Gazprom and several European energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and E.ON, the project faced immediate geopolitical friction. The United States actively campaigned against it, with officials like Richard Grenell and Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson threatening sanctions to prevent Russia from using the pipeline as a political weapon against Ukraine and Poland.

Construction began in 2015, but the project was frequently mired in controversy. In 2021, the pipeline was completed, with the second line finished in September. However, it never entered service. In February 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended its certification following Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. By March 2022, Nord Stream 2 AG had filed for bankruptcy and laid off its 106 employees in Zug, Switzerland.

The project's fate was sealed by a series of explosions on September 26, 2022. Danish and Swedish authorities reported damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, causing significant gas leaks. The European Union categorized the incident as sabotage of critical energy infrastructure. This incident caused the most massive methane discharge ever recorded, with projections indicating that 100,000 to 400,000 tonnes entered the atmosphere.

While investigations by Germany, Sweden, and Denmark were closed in February 2024 without publicly assigning responsibility, the geopolitical fallout remains. German officials sought a Ukrainian citizen's arrest in June 2024 regarding the suspected sabotage, yet a Polish court freed the individual in October 2025 after finding the warrant invalid.

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