Before Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, Germany refused to certify the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Berlin has since announced a gradual exit from Russian fossil fuels, with Russian gas imports set to end by 2024.
But Russia was faster. On September 2, 2022, gas company Gazprom stopped all energy supplies to Germany. Just 24 days later, three of the four branches of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were destroyed. Only one branch of Nord Stream 2 is intact.
With national efforts and major subsidies to industry and consumers, Germany has almost completely replaced Russian gas supplied via pipeline with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, Norway and Qatar.
Currently, almost all of Russia's gas pipelines to Europe are closed. Europe is currently a major customer for US LNG.
Shortly after Donald Trump was re-elected as US president last year, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe should reduce gas imports from Russia by importing more US LNG.
Therefore, recent information about the US's efforts to reopen the entire Nord Stream 2 pipeline and possibly repair the remaining branch is really surprising, according to the Financial Times.
For the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to operate, the US needs to lift sanctions on Russia, Russia agrees to resume gas sales that were cut off when the conflict broke out and Germany allows gas to be transported to any potential customer in Europe.
In recent weeks, many unexpected developments have occurred around the possibility of reopening Nord Stream 2. A Swiss court has postponed bankruptcy proceedings against Nord Stream 2's parent company - Nord Stream 2 AG - until early May 2025.
The two-hour phone call between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin recently mentioned "huge economic deals," Washington said in a statement. Moscow's statement on the phone call also mentioned "potential relations for common interests in the economic and energy sectors". Gazprom's share price - which announced its record losses last year - has increased since the first signs of a breakdown in US-Russia relations.
In Germany, the center-right CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD are negotiating to form a government. Several industry leaders and conservative negotiators have welcomed the prospect of reopening the Russian gas pipeline. CDU lawmaker Thomas Bareiß recently shared: "When peace returns, the fires between Russia and Ukraine are low, relations will be normalized, sanctions will be lifted and gas may start flowing again, who knows, this time it will be through the US-controlled gas pipeline."
As before, Nord Stream is a private project and will be decided by private businesses, added Thomas Bareiß.
