(Adds details, background)
MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday
it was for all shareholders to decide whether Nord Stream gas
pipelines damaged in blasts last year should be mothballed.
Sources familiar with the plans told Reuters last week that
the ruptured Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, built by
Russia's state-controlled Gazprom , were set to be
sealed up and mothballed as there are no immediate plans to
repair or reactivate them.
Asked about the report at a regular briefing, Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Of course, this is a decision
that should be taken collegially by all shareholders."
He also said the Kremlin would not issue any recommendations
to Gazprom regarding the future of the undersea pipelines.
Apart from Gazprom, shareholders in Nord Stream AG, the
Swiss-based operator of Nord Stream 1, are Engie ,
Gasunie , Wintershall DEA and
E.ON .
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two
pipes, were built by Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres
(bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Three of the four pipes were ruptured by unexplained
blasts in September, and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remains
intact.
Gazprom has said it is technically possible to repair
the ruptured lines, but two sources familiar with plans said
Moscow saw little prospect of relations with the West improving
enough in the foreseeable future for the pipelines to be needed.
Europe has drastically cut its energy imports from
Russia over the past year after Moscow's decision to send
hundreds of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin
Editing by Gareth Jones)
