German security agencies fear the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been destroyed forever after “blasts” were detected in a suspected “sabotage” under the Baltic Sea.
Government sources told German daily Tagesspiegel that if the three damaged tubes of the pipeline is not repaired quickly the salt water will cause irreparable damage.
The European Union suspects that damage to two underwater natural gas pipelines was sabotage and is warning of retaliation for any attack on Europe’s energy networks, a senior official said Wednesday, as energy companies began ramping up security.
According to Danish authorities, the leaks will continue until the gas in the pipelines is exhausted, which should take “at least a week.”
Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden said they had registered two powerful blasts on Monday in the vicinity of the leaks and the explosions were in the water, not under the seabed.
The episode underscored the vulnerability of Europe’s energy infrastructure and further heightened tensions in the continent that has been rocked by the seven-month war in Ukraine.
Poland and some experts said Russia was probably to blame, and could benefit from further market instability.
“All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the bloc’s 27 members.
“Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.”
Some European leaders and experts pointed to possible sabotage given the energy standoff with Russia. The three leaks were reported on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were filled with natural gas but were not delivering the fuel to Europe.
The pipelines allow gas to be piped to Germany without transiting through Ukraine or Poland. The extent of the damage, along with the political ramifications, raises serious doubts about the future of the Nord Stream project. Germany was heavily criticized for the project by the U.S. and many of its European partners, which said that it only increased Europe’s reliance on Russian gas imports.
While it remains unknown who might be responsible for the damage, given its undersea location, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said Tuesday that the leaks could be part of Russia’s hybrid war on NATO.
“The explosions took place very close to Danish territorial waters, but not inside them, because that would have meant NATO territory,” Rau said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
A statement issued by Russia’s embassy in Denmark said that any sabotage on Nord Stream’s pipelines was an attack on both Russia’s and Europe’s energy security.
“The unsubstantiated accusations and assumptions that are now being made everywhere are intended to create information noise and prevent an objective and impartial investigation,” the Russian statement said.
