Nord Stream 1 and 2 Hit by “Mystery” Gas Leaks

Did US blow up Germany's gas supply?

Anna Ringstrom 883 8
The option Russia had to switch off everyone’s gas supply but Germany’s has just been ended

Source: Reuters

European countries on Tuesday scrambled to investigate unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, infrastructure at the heart of an energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sweden’s Maritime Authority issued a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 pipeline was discovered that had prompted Denmark to restrict shipping in a five nautical mile radius.

Both pipelines have been flashpoints in an escalating energy war between Europe and Moscow that has pummelled major Western economies and sent gas prices soaring.

Neither pipeline was pumping gas to Europe at the time leaks were found amid the dispute over the Ukraine war but both still contained gas under pressure. The incidents will hinder any effort to start or restart either pipelline for commercial operations.

“Yesterday, a leak was detected on one of the two gas pipelines between Russia and Denmark – Nord Stream 2. The pipeline is not in operation, but contains natural gas, which is now leaking,” Denmark’s energy minister Dan Jorgensen said in a written comment.

“Authorities have now been informed that there have been 2 more leaks on Nord Stream 1, which is also not in operation but contains gas,” he added.

Gazprom declined comment.

Russia slashed gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream 1 before suspending flows altogether in August, blaming Western sanctions for causing technical difficulties. European politicians say that was a pretext to stop gas supplies.

The new Nord Stream 2 pipeline had just been completed but had not entered commercial operations. The plan to supply gas via the pipeline was scrapped by Germany days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

‘EXTRA WATCH’

“There are two leaks on Nord Stream 1 – one in Swedish economic zone and one in Danish economic zone. They are very near each other,” a Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) spokesperson told Reuters.

The leaks were located northeast of the Danish island Bornholm, the spokesperson said. It was not immediately clear what had caused the leaks.

“We are keeping extra watch to make sure no ship comes too close to the site,” a second SMA spokesperson said.

The Baltic Pipe, a new subsea pipeline delivering Norwegian gas to Poland with an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic metres per day, is due to be inaugurated later on Tuesday.

Danish authorities have asked that the country’s level of preparedness for the power and gas sector be raised after the leaks.

“Breaches of gas pipelines happen extremely rarely … We want to ensure thorough monitoring of Denmark’s critical infrastructure in order to strengthen security of supply in the future,” said the head of the Danish energy agency, Kristoffer Bottzauw.

The raised level would mean that companies in the power and gas sector have to implement measures to increase safety at for example plants, buildings and installations.

Vessels can lose buoyancy if they enter the area, and there may be a risk of an ignition over the water and in the air, said the Danish energy agency, adding there were no security risks associated with the leak outside the exclusion zone.

It said the gas leak would only affect the environment locally, which means that only the area where the gas plume in the water column is located would be affected.

There would be a climate-damaging effect from the escaping methane gas escaping into the air, it said in a written comment.

8 Comments
  1. Agarwal says

    How Chad is the USA? Virgin Putin agonizes about counter-sanctions for 6 months before finally cutting off (most) gas to Europe, and then proceeds to sell Europe Russian coal to help them get through the winter for a few extra kopecks.

    Meanwhile America says “f that, I’m gonna blow up heavy gas infrastructure that belongs to my ally Germany to make sure they never do a deal with Russia”. And then everyone in Europe twists themselves into knots explaining how this was actually the Russians blowing up their own $30 billion NS2 and their own future leverage over Europe (“if you make peace, drop sanctions, we turn your gas back on”).

    Russians are like “how would you like it if we cut your undersea cables America?”

    And then America be like “bitch everyone know you ain’t gonna do nothin”. And America is right lol

    Reply
  2. Arraya says

    It makes no sense for ‘america’ to sabotage it.

    “:The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of Russia’s gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries” FOG

    Dugin’s ‘Moscow-Berlin’ alliance will be the result. This certainly expedited it

    Reply
    1. Abraham Lincoln says

      The USSA had to destroy the Russian Nord stream pipelines as they were Russia’s carrot to lure Europe away from the USSA. There is no way Nord Stream 2 would not have been turned on once tens of millions of Europeans began to lose their jobs and millions more begin to freeze to death

      Reply
  3. Arraya says

    Pipeline Terror Time Line
    Nord 2 has never been operational Nord 1 was barely ruining over 10% capacity when they shut it down for scheduled maintenance on August 31st
    – Aug 31st Nord Stream 1 was shut down for 3 days scheduled maintenance .
    – Sept 2nd – Russia said Nord 1, still not ready…
    – Sept 7th – Germany said “Hey turn it back on”
    – Sept 15th – Russia says to Germany “take Nord 2 or you get nothing!”
    – Sept 15th -U.S. Natural Gas Prices Plummet On Rail Deal, Storage Build – – oilprice.com
    – Sept 20th – Germany says we’ll never take Nord 2
    – Sept 26th – Natural Gas Prices Continue Plunge As Europe Fills Up Ahead Of Schedule Sept 26th oilprice.com
    – Sept 27th – Baltic Pipe: Norway-Poland gas pipeline opens in key move to cut dependency on Russia
    – Sept 27th sabotage!
    – Sept 27th – Prices gained after ‘unprecedented’ damage at Nord Stream
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE

    Reply
  4. YakovKedmi says

    There is plenty of natural gas under the sea between Holland and England, but we don’t want that.
    There is plenty of coal in north America to heat and electrify Europe for two more centuries (or until free-energy is developed), but we don’t want that.

    We want Net-Zero ! —that and the utility bill will have to be suffice
    If you want warm & fuzzy, take a walk along the wind-mills and watch the dead birds

    Blood batteries of racist automobiles
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHvq-8np1o

    Reply
    1. Germantruther says

      We have plenty of coal here in germany. We have also gas, but fracking is not allowed. There are also gas sources where you don‘t need fracking, but this is also not allowed.

      Reply
  5. Blackledge says

    Few things speak to lost western masculinity than adult males – “men,” supposedly – spending their free time posting histrionic “tweets” on US social media like adolescent drama queens. Shameful, effeminate, adolescent behavior one would expect to see in a teenage girl.

    Reply
  6. Kieran says

    Nord Stream 1 is old gas field running out now hence Nord stream 2 which is from a fresh gas discovery and was a no-brainer except that there are no brains, not even an iota that you would find in the present European leadership. besides, they have suddenly degenerated to invertebrates having lost their collective backbones.

    anyway, there is no shortage of buyers for Russian oil, gas, wheat, fertilizers. Not just India, China and the BRICS. the whole of Africa and South America will replace old fogey Europe once we have a replacement for SWIFT which is coming sooner than you think and consequent dedollarization

    without a hegemony and end of unipolarity, Africans will be rich for the resources they have and slowly all the hallmarks of neocolonialism will disappear also like propped up wealthy dictators amidst starving subjects as Russia and China will take over the security of the third world along with trade and industry

    Reply

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