Bubbles generated by gas leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have stopped but remain in Nord Stream 2, the Swedish Coast Guard said on Monday, after a flyover of the two structures in the Baltic Sea, allegedly damaged by sabotage. .
The operator of the submarine pipelines linking Russia with Germany, Nord Stream AG, had announced on Saturday the end of the leaks in the Nord Stream 2, due to insufficient pressure for the pipeline to leak.
Four major gas leaks, which have been releasing tens of thousands of tons of gas, have affected two pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm since early last week.
The leaks, which generated giant bubbles, were located in international waters, two of which were detected in the Swedish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the other two in the Danish EEZ.
According to the Danish authorities, the leaks, in sharp decline, should have stopped this weekend. On the Swedish side, the main leak affected Nord Stream 1, while a smaller one occurred in Nord Stream 2, and it is this one that is still active on Monday, the coast guard said in a statement.
During a flight this morning, “the largest leak was no longer visible, but the small one, instead, increased again”, generating bubbles in the sea in an area of ”about 30 meters”, according to the sources. .swedish
Underwater explosions equivalent to “hundreds of kilograms” of explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene) are at the origin of the leaks discovered in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in international waters off the Danish island of Bornholm, and “all available information indicates that these explosions are the result of a deliberate act,” Sweden and Denmark said in an official report sent to the United Nations.
Russia, suspected of being behind the leaks, had already struck back on Wednesday, pointing the finger at the United States and calling for a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.
Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, meanwhile said pressure had stabilized in the two pipelines and leaks had stopped.
In its account on the Telegram social network, in the first statement on the state of the facilities after the incident, Gazprom said that it is now working to reduce the pressure on cable B of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The company explained that “this will allow a safe review of the integrity of this cable, in addition to reducing possible ecological risks in the event of a possible gas leak.”
“In the event that the decision is made to start supplying the Nord Stream 2 B pipeline, after review of the integrity of the system and confirmation of this possibility by the regulatory authorities, the natural gas will be pumped back into the pipeline. ”, according to Gazprom.
The spokesman for the Kremlin (Russian presidency), Dmitri Peskov, did not rule out this Monday the possibility of restoring the operation of the gas pipelines, but said that “there is no understanding” about when it could happen.
None of the pipelines was working when the leaks occurred, the first had been out of service for weeks, according to Moscow due to technical problems, and the second was never operational, because German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended the project after Russian recognition of the self-proclaimed republics. dissidents from Donbass (eastern Ukraine) last February.
Source: TSF
