Seismologists say powerful explosions preceded the leaks in the gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany
Denmark believes "deliberate
actions" caused big leaks in two natural gas pipelines running under the
to Germany, and seismologists said powerful explosions preceded the leaks.
European leaders and experts pointed
to possible sabotage amid the energy standoff with Russia provoked by the
war in Ukraine. Although filled with gas, neither pipeline is currently
supplying it to Europe.
"It is the authorities' clear
assessment that these are deliberate actions -– not accidents," Danish
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday.
But she added "there is no
information indicating who could be behind it." Frederiksen rejected the
suggestion that the incident was an attack on Denmark, saying the leaks
occurred in international waters.
The incident
overshadowed the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring
Norwegian gas to Poland to bolster the continent's energy independence from
Moscow.
Stronger blast
The first
explosion was recorded early Monday southeast of the Danish island of
Bornholm, said Bjorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network. A
second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a
magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also
registered the explosions.
"There's no doubt, this is not
an earthquake," Lund said.
On Wednesday, Danish defense
minister Morten Bødskov will travel to Brussels to discuss the leaks with NATO
chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe
Kofod said Sweden, Germany and Poland
havebeen kept informed, and "we will inform and reach out to Russia in
this case."
He said Denmark's foreign
intelligence service didn't see any increased military threat against Denmark
after the three leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
Foamy white area
They created a foamy white area on
the water's surface, images released by Denmark's military show. Danish Energy
Minister Dan Jørgensen said that "we cannot say how long the leak will
go" on for as the gas has not been turned off. There was no indication
when the gas would be turned off.
The German operator of the
pipelines, Nord Stream AG, said it's preparing a survey to assess the damage.
"Currently, it is not possible
to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure," a
company statement said. "The causes of the incident will be clarified as a
result of the investigation."
In Sweden, acting Prime Minister
Magdalena Andersson said "it is
probablya case of sabotage," but not an attack on Sweden.
Andersson added that neighboring
oil-rich Norway "has informed us about increased drone activity in the
North Sea and the measures they have taken in connection with it."
Climate change contributor
Foreign Minister Ann Linde said
that Sweden "(is) not ruling out any scenarios and we will not speculate
about motive or actor."
The escaped natural gas is made up
almost entirely of methane — the second biggest contributor to climate change
after carbon dioxide. David Hastings, a retired chemical oceanographer in
Gainesville, Florida, said much of the gas would rise through the sea and enter
the atmosphere. "There is no question that the largest environmental
impact of this is to the climate, because methane is a really potent greenhouse
gas," he said.
According to United Nations data,
methane is 82.5 times
worsefor the climate than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, because it so
effectively absorbs the heat of the sun.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki called the events "an act of sabotage." During a ceremony
in northwestern Poland, Morawiecki, Denmark's Frederiksen and Polish President
Andrzej Duda symbolically opened the valve of a yellow pipe belonging to the
Baltic Pipe, a new system sending Norwegian gas across Denmark to Poland.
"The era of Russian domination
in the gas sphere is coming to an end," Morawiecki declared. "An era
that was marked by blackmail, threats and extortion."
No official presented evidence of
what caused the leaks, but with distrust of Russia running high, some feared
Moscow sabotaged its own infrastructure out of spite or to warn that pipelines
are vulnerable to attack. The leaks raised the stakes on whether energy
infrastructure was being targeted and led to a small bump in natural gas
prices.
Escalation in situation
"We can clearly see that this
is an act of sabotage, an act that probably means a next step of escalation in
the situation that we are dealing with in Ukraine," Morawiecki said.
Secretary of State Antony J.
Blinken spoke with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod
aboutthe apparent sabotage, according to State Department spokesperson Ned
Price, who reiterated the U.S. was committed to promoting European energy
security.
Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher
with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College,
said the timing of the leaks was "conspicuous" given the ceremony for
the Baltic Pipe. He said perhaps someone sought "to send a signal that
something could happen to the Norwegian gas."
The extent of the damage means the
Nord Stream pipelines are unlikely to be able to carry any gas to Europe this
winter even if there was political will to bring them online, analysts at the
Eurasia Group said. Russia has halted flows on the 1,224-kilometer (760-mile) Nord
Stream 1 pipeline during the war, while Germany prevented them from ever
starting in the parallel Nord Stream 2.
"Depending on the scale of the
damage, the leaks could even mean a permanent closure of both lines,"
analysts Henning Gloystein and Jason Bush wrote.
Puck Nielsen said of possible
sabotage that "technically speaking, this is not difficult. It just
requires a boat. It requires some divers that know how to handle explosive
devices."
"But I think if we look at who
would actually benefit from disturbances, more chaos on the gas market in
Europe, I think there's basically only one actor right now that actually
benefits from more uncertainty, and that is Russia," he said.
‘Unprecedented situation’
Asked if the leaks may have been
caused by sabotage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "no version could
situation that requires an urgent investigation. We are extremely worried
by this news," he said in a conference call with reporters.
Danish and Swedish maritime
authorities issued navigation warnings, and established a prohibited area for
vessels. Ships may lose buoyancy, and there may also be a risk of ignition
above the water and in the air.
The Nord Stream pipelines have been
at the center of an energy clash between Europe and Russia since the invasion
of Ukraine in late February. Plunging Russian gas supplies have caused prices
to soar, pressuring governments to help ease the pain of sky-high energy bills
for households and businesses as winter nears. The crisis also has raised fears
of rationing and recession.
The Baltic Pipe is a prominent
element in the European Union's
searchfor energy security and is to start bringing Norwegian gas through Denmark
and along the Baltic Sea to Poland on Oct. 1.
Simone Tagliapietra, an energy
expert with the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, speculated that the leaks could
have been caused by Russian sabotage or anti-Russian sabotage.
One possibility is Russia signaling
it "is breaking forever with Western Europe and Germany" as Poland
inaugurates its pipeline with Norway, he said.
"In any case, this is a stark
reminder of the exposure to risk of Europe's gas infrastructure,"
Tagliapietra said.
line-height:150%">(Text and images: AP)
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