Offshore pipelines minimise environmental impact

Offshore pipelines are also very safe from the point of view of environmental impact. Building an offshore pipeline is more environmentally-friendly than a pipeline on land. An offshore pipeline will not cross hundreds of kilometres of forests, fields, farmland and populated areas, but will be laid on the seabed, away from human activity. An offshore pipeline is laid at a speed of about three kilometres per day, which is much faster than pipe laying on land; therefore, will be fewer and shorter environment disturbances than on land. An underwater pipeline will have only minimal and temporary impact on the environment during installation and hardly any impact during operation. More than 6,000 kilometres of pipelines in the North Sea, some of which have been in operation since the 1970s, prove the feasibility and limited footprint of the offshore pipeline.

40% less CO₂ due to no interim compression

The choice for an offshore solution has another clear advantage. Since an underwater pipeline can sustain higher pressure, Nord Stream can operate without interim compression, whereas a land-based pipeline would require compressor stations every 200 kilometres. Therefore, Nord Stream will emit around 40 percent less CO₂ than a comparable onshore pipeline.