Nord Stream AG will be conducting long-planned annual maintenance works on its twin gas pipeline system, running through the Baltic Sea, between August 11 and 20, 2015.

These routine maintenance works will require a temporary shutdown of both lines at once, the company informed.

These works are an essential part of Nord Stream’s long-term pipeline integrity management strategy to ensure that the pipelines will be able to continue transporting up to 55 bcm of gas per year safely and efficiently for at least 50 years. The maintenance works include annual maintenance of mechanical components, as well as testing of the automation system.

The schedule for these maintenance activities has been agreed and coordinated with Nord Stream’s upstream and downstream pipeline partners well in advance.

The temporary interruption of supplies has been factored into the nominations of gas planned for Nord Stream to transport to downstream European partners.

The Nord Stream twin pipeline system runs from Vyborg, Russia to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany. The two 1,224-kilometre offshore pipelines are the most direct connection between the vast gas reserves in Russia and energy markets in the European Union.