Bubbles generated by gas leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have stopped, but they remain in Nord Stream 2, the Swedish Coast Guard said Monday, after an overflight of the two structures in the Baltic Sea, allegedly damaged by sabotage.
The operator of submarine pipelines connecting Russia to Germany, Nord Stream AG, had announced the end of the Nord Stream 2 leaks on Saturday, due to insufficient pressure to allow the pipeline to leak.
Four major gas leaks, releasing tens of thousands of tons of gas, have hit two pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm since early last week.
The leaks, which created giant bubbles, were in international waters, two of which were in the Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the other two in the Danish EEZ.
According to the Danish authorities, the leaks, which deteriorated sharply, should have stopped this weekend.
On the Swedish side, the main leak hit Nord Stream 1, while a smaller one occurred on Nord Stream 2, and it is this one that is still active today, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
During a flight this morning, “the largest leak was no longer visible, but the small one, on the other hand, increased again,” forming bubbles in the sea in an area of ”about 30 meters,” the sources said.
Underwater explosions equivalent to “hundreds of kilograms” of explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene) are at the root 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 were the result of an intentional act,” Sweden and Denmark said in an official report sent to the United Nations.
Russia, suspected of being the cause of the leaks, had already launched a counter-attack on Wednesday, pointing the finger at the United States and asking for a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.
However, Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, said today that the pressure in the two pipelines had stabilized and the leaks had stopped.
On its account on the social network Telegram, Gazprom said in the first statement about the condition of the facilities after the incident that it is now working to reduce pressure on cable B of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The company explained that “this will allow for a safe assessment of the integrity of this cable, in addition to reducing potential environmental risks in the event of a potential gas leak”.
“In the event that it is decided to begin supplying the Nord Stream 2 B pipeline, after assessment of the system’s integrity and confirmation of this possibility by regulatory authorities, the natural gas will be pumped back into the pipeline” , said Gazprom.
Kremlin (Russian Presidency) spokesman Dmitry Peskov today did not rule out the possibility of reopening the gas pipelines, but said there is “no agreement” on when that could happen.
None of the pipelines were working when the leaks occurred, the first was out of service for weeks, Moscow said, due to technical problems, and the second was never operational, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended the project after Russian recognition of the self-proclaimed breakaway republics of Donbass ( Eastern Ukraine) last February.
Source: DN
