Tuesday morning, the Scandinavian authorities discovered two unexplained leaks on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea, hours after a gas leak was detected on the Nord Stream 2 on the Russia-Europe gas network.
Neither pipeline was transporting gas to Europe at the time of the breaches.
The new leaks were confirmed by Denmark’s minister of environment and energy several hours after Germany reported a reduction in pipeline pressure.
‘Nord Stream 2, one of the two gas pipelines connecting Russia and Denmark, experienced a leak yesterday. The pipeline is not in use, but it does contain natural gas, which is currently leaking,’ according to a written statement from Dan Jorgensen, Denmark’s energy minister.
‘Authorities have now been alerted that Nord Stream 1, which is also not in service but carries gas, has experienced two further leaks,’ he continued.
Three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system have suffered ‘unprecedented’ damage in a day, according to the pipeline operator, Nord Stream AG, on Tuesday.
It went on to say that the problem is being investigated, but it didn’t say when the gas network system’s operational capability would be returned.
The capacity for underwater gas imports from Russia was supposed to be nearly doubled by the Nord Stream 2 project. Germany, however, stopped it in the days preceding the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian energy giant Gazprom gradually reduced the volumes of gas transports through Nord Stream 1 until it shut the pipeline completely at the end of August, accusing the Western sanctions for the delay of necessary repairs to the pipeline.
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