On Thursday, German insurance giant Munich Re denied through a company spokesman that it will be offering insurance coverage to Russia’s Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline, after its current contract expires later this year.
The denial followed a similar denial by insurer Allianz which had also offered prior coverage to the pipeline, but now says it will not be renewing the project’s policy, contradicting earlier reports it would renew its coverage.
The denials refute earlier reports this week which had said the companies were intending to renew their existing insurance of the pipeline, and that the German government was supporting the renewals. Experts had speculated that the renewal of the insurance was an indication that the pipeline might at some point be repaired and restarted.
Natural gas deliveries through the Nord Stream pipeline gradually diminished through 2022 due to maintenance issues and parts shortages produced by the economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Then in September, unknown actors placed explosives on undersea segments of both the Nord Stream 1, and the newly completed but unused Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which destroyed large segments of them, rendering them unusable. There are numerous probes of the incident underway, but so far the responsible parties have not been identified.
Renown investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has reported that according to sources, the pipelines were blown up by a joint American and Norwegian operation acting at the behest of American President Joe Biden. America’s goal was reportedly to prevent Europe from being subject to political pressure to normalize relations with Russia in return for access to cheap natural gas to alleviate the energy crisis within the bloc. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that it is clear America in particular benefitted from the blasts, as now America is a primary supplier of liquified natural gas to the region.
The accusations have been denied by both the United States and Norway. However Russia was still denied a proposed UN resolution to launch an independent UN investigation of the sabotage.
