Nord Stream 2 AG gets more time for debt restructuring

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A court in Switzerland has extended the deadline for Nord Stream 2 AG, a unit of Russia's Gazprom, to restructure its debts to May 9 from Jan. 10, according to a court ruling.

It also said that Swiss-registered Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the undersea gas pipeline that was never commissioned, had to pay off debts to small-scale creditors in full within 60 days of receipt of this decision.

"If this deadline is not met, Nord Stream 2 AG will be declared bankrupt without ... a grace period," the court in Zug said.

Nord Stream 2 completed the $11 billion project in 2021 to pump gas from Russia to Germany. But Germany halted the plan as relations with Moscow broke down ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while the United States imposed sanctions.

In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin. Editing by Mark Potter)