Both pipelines are at the center of the energy war between Europe and Moscow that has swept through Western economies and driven up gas prices.
When the leak was discovered, neither pipeline was carrying gas to Europe due to the warring conflicts in Ukraine, but both were under pressure. These events prevent any move to start or resume these pipeline operations of the business.
Yesterday, Danish Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen announced the discovery of a leak in one of the two gas pipelines between Russia and Denmark (Nord Stream 2). The pipeline has been shut down but now contains leaking natural gas. Officials now know of two other leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is inactive but contains gas.
Russia reduced gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream by 20% of the pipeline’s capacity and finally announced in August that Western sanctions had caused technical problems for the pipeline and suspended its operation indefinitely. But European politicians consider this measure an excuse to cut off gas supplies.
The construction of the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline has also been completed, but its implementation has not yet begun. The German government canceled the plan to transport gas from this pipeline shortly before the start of the Russian war in Ukraine.
“Two leaks occurred in Nord Stream 1, one in the Swedish EEZ and the other in the Danish EEZ, close to each other,” a Swedish Maritime Administration spokesman told Reuters. Another spokesperson said: “We are careful that no ships approach the spill site.”
The new submarine pipeline “Baltic Pipe”, which will transport Norwegian gas to Poland, is scheduled to open, with an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per day.
The Danish authorities asked the electricity and gas sector to be on alert after the leak was discovered. This means that companies operating in the electricity and gas sector must be prepared to implement measures to increase the safety of their facilities.
The Danish Energy Agency has warned that ships entering the area could lose their navigation license and there is a risk of fire in the weather. However, there are no security risks associated with this leak outside the mentioned scope.
The Kremlin: The possibility of sabotage is not excluded
The Kremlin said on Tuesday it would not rule out sabotage for damage to the Nord Stream pipeline network in the Baltic Sea.
The network operator, Nord Stream, announced earlier today that three offshore pipelines in the Nord Stream gas pipeline system were unexpectedly damaged in a single day.
Asked whether sabotage was the cause of the damage to the pipelines, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference: “No option is excluded at the moment.”
According to a Reuters report, he said: “The Kremlin is very concerned about this situation, which needs to be investigated urgently because it is a problem for the energy security of the entire continent.”
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