{"id":23605,"date":"2022-09-28T10:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T08:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/?p=23605"},"modified":"2022-09-28T10:57:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T08:57:54","slug":"unexplained-leaks-in-the-north-stream-1-and-2-gas-supply-pipelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/unerklaerliche-lecks-in-den-gasversorgungsleitungen-nord-stream-1-und-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaks in Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday evening, the Nord Stream 1 control centre reported a drop in pressure on both strings of the gas pipeline. Also on Monday, 26 September, the Danish Energy Agency published a communiqu\u00e9 stating that it had discovered a leak in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea.<\/p>\n

\"Nordstream
Nordstream. Copyright Nordstream AG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A total of three leaks were reported at the EU Commission's daily press conference in Brussels. Both pipelines are double-stranded. According to consistent Danish and Swedish information, there are two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 supply pipeline north-east of the island of Bornholm in the border area between the two national economic zones. The leak in Nord Stream 2 is located south-east of Dueodde on Bornholm.<\/p>\n

Although Nord Stream 1 (commissioned in 2012, capacity of 55 billion cubic metres per year) is not currently transporting any gas and Nord Stream 2 is not yet in operation (construction completion in September 2021, USD 11 billion), both pipelines are still filled with gas up to the landfall station in Lubmin.<\/p>\n

The Swedish National Seismic Network had previously recorded two events with \"massive energy releases\" where gas is currently leaking uncontrollably from the pipelines. A seismologist from Uppsala University told the AFP news agency on Tuesday that the cause \"can only be an explosion\". <\/span><\/span>The first of these <\/span>Explosions <\/span>occurred at 2.04 a.m. on Monday night south-east of Bornholm (Nord Stream 2), the second at 7.04 p.m. on Monday evening (Nord Stream 1).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Exclusion zone south-east of Bornholm - yellow markings. Source: Danish Energy Agency<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Danish Ministry of Defence had the areas reconnoitred with F16s and a SAR helicopter. The Danish frigate \"Absalon\" (F341), the environmental control ship \"Gunnar Thorson\" (A560) and the corvette \"Rota\" (P525) were sent to patrol the accident sites. The shipping authorities of both countries issued navigational warnings and set up exclusion zones. According to the Danish Ministry of Defence, the largest of the gas leaks is causing turbulence on the surface of the sea with a diameter of one kilometre.<\/p>\n

A video on the website of the Danish Ministry of Defence shows the gas bubbles rising in the water https:\/\/www.forsvaret.dk\/en\/news\/2022\/gas-leak-in-the-baltic-sea\/<\/a> .<\/p>\n

The Danish Energy Agency has asked the national energy infrastructure manager to raise the alert level for the gas and electricity sector to orange, the second highest level. \"Gas pipeline ruptures are extremely rare, and we therefore see the need to raise the alert level due to the events of recent days,\" said the director of the Danish Energy Agency, Kristoffer B\u00f6ttzauw.<\/p>\n

However, without further findings, the causes of the leaks remain unclear.<\/p>\n

Speculation<\/h3>\n

In view of the almost simultaneous occurrence and the extent of the disruption, there is speculation about sabotage. During the daily press briefing on Tuesday 27 September, a spokesperson for the European Commission was still cautious: \"At this stage, it is very premature to speculate about the causes. As I said, we have been informed by the Member States concerned and they are investigating the matter. We will remain in close contact with them.\" Tagesschau quotes Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Prydacz in its online presence with his suspicion of a Russian provocation. \"Unfortunately, our eastern neighbour is constantly pursuing an aggressive policy. If it is capable of an aggressive military policy in Ukraine, it is obvious that no provocations can be ruled out, not even in the sections that lie in Western Europe.\"<\/p>\n

Russia, for its part, is talking about sabotage. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on 27 September: \"We cannot rule out any possibility at the moment. Obviously the line has been destroyed in some way. Until the results of the investigation are available, it is impossible to rule out any possibility.\"<\/p>\n

On Tuesday evening (27 September), there is growing evidence that the cables were deliberately sabotaged. Russia is the elephant in the room as a possible suspect. Moscow, which is accused of using energy as a weapon, could have used the attack to exacerbate the energy crisis in Europe. Russian bloggers accuse the USA, which could consolidate its economic position with such an intervention. Ukraine is also being criticised. It could use targeted damage to ensure that Russian gas can only be supplied to the EU via pipelines in Ukraine or Poland.<\/p>\n

Russia under suspicion<\/h3>\n
\"Harpsichord\"
Klavesin 2P-PM during trials in August 2022 Copyright Rubin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Should a state actor be behind the attack, Russia would certainly be a possibility. Vice Admiral Jan C. Kaack, inspector of the navy, recently warned in Die Welt of possible threats against maritime infrastructure. \"You can't just look at the water. Russia has also built up considerable underwater capacities. At the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but also in the Atlantic, there is a lot of critical infrastructure such as pipelines or submarine cables for IT.\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
Klavesin 2P-PM. Graphic: Ruby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Russian Navy has been experimenting for several years with smaller autonomous underwater vehicles that can be deployed by surface units or piggybacked by submarines. These include the 'Klavesin 2P-PM' (English name Harpsichord 2P-PM), the first version of which became known in 2010\/11. The 6.5 metre long, 3.7 tonne diving device is said to be able to reach depths of up to 6,000 metres. Its autonomy is estimated by the manufacturer Rubin at 150 kilometres.<\/p>\n

Economic and ecological consequences<\/h3>\n

Due to the Russian supply stop, it is irrelevant for the gas supply in the EU that the two important pipelines are now unplanned outages. Whether it is the cause or not, the Russian state could benefit from the rise in the price of gas as a result of the damage to the pipelines, but probably only in the short term. Reuters reports an increase of 11 euros (approx. 6.4 per cent) per megawatt hour for October futures contracts and an increase of 13.85 euros to 203.10 euros per megawatt hour for November. In August, the megawatt hour of gas reached its highest level to date of 346 euros.<\/p>\n

In addition to the economic damage, the ecological consequences are worrying. There is a risk of fire and explosion due to gas released into the air and the toxicity of the hydrogen sulphide contained in the gas. Hence the exclusion zones.<\/p>\n

According to the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, methane, the main component of natural gas, has been responsible for around a third of global warming since pre-industrial times. It is therefore considered the second most important greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential many times greater than carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

Random coincidence?<\/h3>\n

The incident occurred on the eve of the inauguration of the Baltic Pipe. Poland wants to import natural gas from Norway via this gas pipeline with an annual capacity of ten billion cubic metres, which corresponds to around 15 percent of domestic demand.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bereits am Montagabend vermerkte das Nord Stream 1-Kontrollzentrum einen Druckabfall an beiden Str\u00e4ngen der Gaspipeline. Ebenfalls am Montag, 26. September, ver\u00f6ffentlichte die d\u00e4nische Energieagentur in einem Communiqu\u00e9, sie habe ein Leck in der Nord Stream 2-Pipeline im d\u00e4nischen Teil der Ostsee entdeckt. In der t\u00e4glichen Pressekonferenz der EU-Kommission in Br\u00fcssel wurde von insgesamt drei Lecks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":23636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"4urgent","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,486,42],"tags":[4436,4437,3313,4434,4433,4438,4435,4432,196],"class_list":["post-23605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sicherheitspolitik-news","category-headlines","category-news","tag-detonation","tag-druckabfall","tag-eu-kommission","tag-gaspipeline","tag-gazprom","tag-insel-bornholm","tag-leckage","tag-nord-stream","tag-ostsee"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marineforum.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}