The Swedish Maritime Authority has issued a warning about two spills Nord Stream 1 Pipeline, which connects Russia with Germany. The spills are in Swedish and Danish territorial waters. The alert was issued after the leak was detected Nord Stream 2, which runs parallel to pipeline number one and is also located in Danish waters. Seismologists also detected explosions in the area that fled.
The Danish military released footage from the Nord Stream spill site. pic.twitter.com/OgoXeWPDSF
— Nexta (@nexta_tv) September 27, 2022
“There is Two spills in Nord Stream 1, one in the Swedish Economic Zone and one in the Danish Economic Zone. The pipelines are very close to each other,” a spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration told Reuters. The official added that the leaks were located northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. “We are extra vigilant that no ships come too close to the site,” a second spokesman said.
Denmark’s Energy Directorate has declared an emergency on two pipelines. “Pipeline bursts rarely happen, so we see reason to raise the emergency level as a result of the events of the last day. We want to ensure complete monitoring of the infrastructure to strengthen security”, he said.
According to Kristoffer Bottzauw, head of Denmark’s Energy Directorate, the gas leaks are “very large” and it could take up to a week to stop gas from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The affected area may lose buoyancy. “The sea surface is saturated with methane, which means the risk of an explosion is increased,” Botchau said.
Both taps are closed and not working. however, are full of gas, that’s why they have to be under constant pressure. According to the network operator, Nord Stream AG, it is not yet possible to estimate when the leaks in the pipelines will be fully repaired.
Vandalism?
So far, the cause of the leak is unknown. “At this stage, it is too early to speculate what the reasons are”, the European Commission defends. But the The Kremlin He says vandalism has not been ruled out as a possible justification for the gas leak. “Any option cannot be ruled out at this stage,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a phone call.
According to Peskov, the Kremlin is very concerned about the situation and needs a quick investigation, as it is an issue concerning the energy security of the “entire continent”. “This is very disturbing news. In fact, we are talking about the damage of an ambiguous nature to the pipeline in the economic zone of Denmark. This is an issue related to the energy security of the entire continent”, said the spokesperson.
The Prime Minister of Denmark has also spoken. For Mette Frederiksen, it is hard to imagine that the gas leaks at the two pipelines were a coincidence. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the bombing was “sabotage,” but offered no evidence. “Today we are facing vandalism. We don’t know all the details of what happened, but we clearly see that this was an act of sabotage related to the next step in the escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” Morawiecki said at the opening ceremony of a new gas pipeline between Norway and Norway. Poland.
The EU Commission has also pledged to closely monitor developments related to the leaks. He adds that he sees no impact on Europe’s security of supply so far. For Denmark’s prime minister, the event underscores the need for greater energy security at the European level.
Seismologists detect underwater explosions
Sweden’s national broadcaster, SVTSeismologists in the country have detected explosions near the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the past 36 hours.
According to SVT, “Monitoring stations in both Sweden and Denmark recorded strong underwater explosions in the same area as the gas leak on Monday.” The Swedish National Seismological Network, cited by the channel, said one of the recorded explosions measured 2.3 on the Richter scale, and was recorded at about 30 monitoring stations in southern Sweden.
“You can clearly see the waves coming from the bottom towards the surface. It was a blast, no doubt. We had a station in Knossjö that captured that moment,” said Björn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismological Network.
The first blast was reported at 2:03 am on Monday and the second at 7:04 pm on the same day. However, the Swedish Maritime Administration only received the first warning of the gas leak at 13:52 and 20:41 on Monday. On detecting bubbles on the surface, the authority received warnings from ships moving in the area.
According to a Swedish broadcaster that received the coordinates, the explosions took place in the same area as the gas leak.
The director of the Swedish National Seismological Network said the area in question is not normally used for military exercises, and the last time a similar seismic event occurred there was in 2016. Water, but not always, he says. We have not received any information in this case,” he said.