Germany believes the Nord Stream gas pipeline was damaged by a sabotage act, which would be a significant escalation of the standoff between Russia & Europe.
A German security official stated that the evidence suggests a violent act, rather than a technical problem. Two explosions were detected by Swedish seismologists Monday. On Monday, there were also leaks in the Baltic Sea.
This is the clearest signal yet that Europe must survive the winter without Russian gas flows. It could also mark a significant escalation of the wider conflict between Russia and Ukraine’s allies.
Although the pipelines were out of operation, any hopes that the Kremlin would have switched the taps back on at one point have been dashed. The prices of gas rose and Denmark took steps to increase security around its energy assets.
Mette Frederiksen (Denmark’s prime Minister), said Tuesday that it was hard to believe that these were coincidences. “We cannot rule out sabotage.”
A region of natural gas bubbles is being formed in the Baltic Sea by leakage from the Nord Stream pipelines, according to a video posted by the Danish army on their website.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said it was premature to speculate about possible sabotage before the results of an investigation. He said, “Nothing can ever be ruled out.”
Russia has been trying to squeeze energy supplies into Europe for months. It is playing a game of cat-and-mouse as it attempts to put maximum pressure on Ukraine’s allies. Europe responded by trying to find alternative sources of gas and filling up its gas reserves. While it appears that these efforts are sufficient to get Europe through the winter so far, there is still uncertainty about the next one. About 40% of the gas it used to transport from Russia was obtained before the war. This figure is now at 9%.
This is not the first time that there have been suspicions of foul play at energy sites ever since the war began.
European leaders accuse Moscow of using maintenance issues to halt supplies and weaponizing energy flows over months. Russia claimed that it had stopped an attack on the oil and gas complex that supplies Europe last week.
Bloomberg reported in July that the Kremlin would likely keep vital gas flows to Europe low as long as tensions over Ukraine continue to build.
Ukraine was once a choke-point of Russian gas. However, the expansion and construction of new pipelines have made it less important as a transit point.
The leaks were detected on radars of ships in the area by Swedish, Danish, and German authorities. The leaks were caused by Nord Stream, which sent smaller amounts of gas to Europe up until Moscow’s description of a technical problem earlier this month. Nord Stream 2 was also affected. This project was abandoned just as it was about to be completed shortly before the war began.
“We have seen it is part of the Russian war strategy, to play actively on the gas market,” stated Patrick Graichen (deputy to Germany’s economy minister). “Just like Nordstream 1 was shut down under murky circumstances,” said Patrick Graichen, deputy to Germany’s economy minister. Putin is great for everything.
According to the Danish Armed Forces, Denmark sent a warship and an environmental vessel as well as a helicopter and a helicopter into the region. According to the energy and climate ministry, gas leaks were detected earlier from Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 2 within its exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. This was also true for Sweden.
Nord Stream, majority-controlled Russia’s Gazprom PJSC said that it was impossible for them to predict when the damage would be repaired.
Operator Tuesday said that the destruction at three lines of Nord Stream’s pipeline system was unprecedented. It’s difficult to predict the timeline for the restoration of operations of the gas shipment infrastructure.
After four days of losses, the benchmark European gas prices rose as high as 12% Tuesday.
James Huckstepp of S&P Global Commodity Insights’ EMEA gas analytics, said that prices are trading higher due to speculation that this was sabotage. However, what that would mean is highly speculative. He said that S&P Global Commodity Insights already believes that the remaining Russian gas flow to Europe will drop to zero by the end of this year.
Gas leaks can also pose safety and environmental risks. The warming effect of each ton of natural gases dumped into the atmosphere is nearly 80 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. After detecting gas leakages in the vicinity of several pipelines, the Danish Maritime Authority advised ships to avoid the areas south and southeast of Bornholm Island.
Kristoffer Bottzauw (head of the Danish Energy Agency) stated in a statement that “We want Denmark to monitor thoroughly its critical infrastructure to strengthen the supply security going forward.”
The Swedish Maritime Administration has banned vessels from entering areas within five nautical miles of Nord Stream 1 or Nord Stream 2. This was due to damage, leakage, and “explosive gases in the vicinity”.
The Swedish coast guard monitors the area via plane.
According to Petteri Salli (officer in charge of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard district), there have not been any Nord Stream leaks in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.
Gascade, a network operator, stated that the damage to the pipelines had not affected adjacent onshore German gas infrastructure.
