Russian pipeline gas leaks into Europe spark suspicions of sabotage.

Russian pipeline gas leaks into Europe spark suspicions of sabotage. Europe was looking into two Russian gas pipeline leaks that caused the Baltic Sea to churn on Tuesday, raising concerns about infrastructure sabotage at the center of an energy conflict from Copenhagen to Moscow.

The identities of those who might be responsible for any wrongdoing on the Nord Stream pipelines, which Russia and its European partners spent billions of dollars constructing, remained mostly unknown.

While the Danish leader acknowledged it could not be ruled out, the prime minister of Poland accused sabotage of the leaks without providing any supporting evidence.

Russia stated there was a chance of sabotage and that the incident jeopardized the security of Europe’s energy supply after the West imposed sanctions due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The day after a leak on the neighboring Nord Stream 2 pipeline was detected, which led Denmark to impose shipping restrictions and a tiny no-fly zone, Sweden’s Maritime Authority issued a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The military of Denmark published a video of bubbles rising to the ocean’s surface. According to the armed forces, the largest gas leak resulted in a surface disturbance that was well over 1 km (0.6 miles) in diameter.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the opening of a new pipeline between Norway and Poland, “Today we faced an act of sabotage. We don’t know all the details of what happened, but we see clearly that it’s an act of sabotage, related to the next step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine.

According to Sweden’s National Seismology Centre and public broadcaster SVT, seismic surveys conducted in Denmark and Sweden on Monday revealed strong explosions in the vicinity of the leaks. On Monday, two spikes were detected by a seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm, according to the German geological research center GFZ.

POSSIBILITY OF EXPLOSIONS

According to Kristoffer Bottzauw, the head of Denmark’s Energy Agency, the leaks in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline were significant and it might take up to a week for the gas to stop leaking out of the pipeline.

If ships reached the area, they might lose buoyancy.

Methane-filled sea surfaces increase the likelihood of explosions in the vicinity, according to Bottzauw.

Sabotage could not be ruled out, according to Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark. We are talking about three leaks that are separated from one another, so it is difficult to think that it is a coincidence, she said.

Any lingering hopes that Europe could get gas through Nord Stream 1 before winter will be dashed by the events, even though neither pipeline was pumping gas to Europe when the breaches were discovered amid the controversy over the war in Ukraine.

The damage, said to operator Nord Stream, was “unprecedented.”

Despite not being in use, both pipelines carried gas.

The firm under the supervision of the Kremlin that holds the pipeline export monopoly for Russian gas, Gazprom (GAZP.MM), declined to comment.

A European security source claimed that there are “some indicators that it is deliberate damage,” but added that it was still too early to make any judgments. You must consider who would profit.

CUTTING ACCESSORIES

Russia cut back on gas shipments to Europe through Nord Stream 1 before completely stopping them in August, blaming technical issues on Western sanctions. Politicians in Europe claim that was an excuse for stopping the delivery of gas.

The brand-new Nord Stream 2 pipeline had not yet begun receiving commercial traffic. Days before Russia moved soldiers into Ukraine in what Moscow terms a “special military operation” in February, Germany decided against using it to export gas.

Regardless of political developments in the Ukraine war, neither pipeline is expected to send any gas to the EU for the upcoming winter, according to a report by Eurasia Group.

The benchmark October Dutch price increased by roughly 10% on Tuesday as a result of the announcement.

The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) of Norway had on Monday warned oil companies to be cautious about unidentified drones detected flying close to Norwegian offshore oil and gas sites.

Two leaks on Nord Stream 1, one in the Swedish economic zone and the other in the Danish zone, were reportedly found northeast of Bornholm, Denmark, according to the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA).

An SMA official stated, “We are maintaining additional watch to make sure no ship approaches too close to the spot.”

Following the leaks, the Danish government requested that the degree of readiness in the country’s power and gas industries be increased. This move would call for stricter safety regulations for power facilities and infrastructure.