State of emergency with Nord Stream-2, gas goes to sea

Coastal services of several countries have been alerted due to an emergency with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

How informed BB.LV, yesterday, September 26, the gas pipeline operator recorded a sharp drop in pressure inside it – from 300 to 7 bar overnight. Usually this happens if a loss of energy carrier has begun inside the system, which provides pressure. A representative of Nord Stream 2 confirmed that problems with the operation of the pipeline were discovered last night.

After a sharp drop in pressure was recorded, the operator reported this to representatives of the coastal services of neighboring countries – Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There is an investigation.

The Danish maritime regulator said it had discovered a gas leak south of Bornholm, but it is not yet known what caused it.

Nord Stream 2 was officially completed in September 2022, after which commissioning began. Gas was let through the pipeline to maintain the required pressure in the system so that it could be started at any time.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russian energy carriers, some European officials called for the pipeline to be dismantled. Ukraine also asked for action against SP-1 and SP-2, arguing that it could completely replace gas supplies from Russia.

Radio Sputnik aired expert opinion, which does not exclude sabotage. Igor Yushkov commented on the situation:

“This section was built by the Swiss Allseas pipe-laying vessels even before the Americans imposed sanctions in December 2019. Russian pipe-laying vessels joined the work further from the island, already closer to Germany. It is difficult to suspect both Swiss and Russian vessels of some marriage – as a rule, very strict safety requirements are imposed on an offshore gas pipeline. I don’t remember at all that there was an accident on an underwater gas pipeline somewhere. There was clearly some kind of depressurization here, since the pressure dropped. We must wait for an inspection. I think that one of the versions that will be considered is sabotage. We remember how many provocations there were when the gas pipeline was being built. Either the fishermen allegedly fell asleep, rammed pipe-laying vessels. Then submarines surfaced and a military torpedo bomber flew. Therefore, I think the Russian side will consider as versions not only technical problems, but also the possibility of sabotage, especially since Poland openly called on Germany to dismantle part of the gas pipeline, and it was impossible to do this while there was gas in it, while it was under pressure.

An expert from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, also spoke about the possible consequences:

“As far as I understand, there is actually no gas left in the line that was damaged. In fact, this is the loss of buffer gas, there were quite large volumes. And here the question will be about insurance. Such objects are insured, this is a mandatory requirement for them. We will hope that everything falls under the insured event, and the insurance company will simply compensate for all the damage.Perhaps the Russian side will want to raise the pipe, repair it and put it to the bottom again.But here, perhaps, we can meet some opposition from European countries, for example Denmark It can, under a far-fetched pretext, prohibit repair ships, pipe-laying ships from entering this water area.”

Source link