Another Nord Stream Leak Detected, Swedish Coastguard Says

Sweden’s coastguard confirmed a new leak was discovered on the damaged Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea on Thursday, according to Reuters. Add this to the three other leaks for a grand total of four that have been spewing natural gas into the water since Monday. 

“Two of these four are in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone,” coast guard spokesperson Jenny Larsson told Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. He said the other two are situated in the Danish exclusive economic zone. 

While neither NS1 nor NS2 was operational during the suspected undersea explosions earlier this week, they were filled with NatGas to Germany, with Denmark estimating the leaks would dissipate by Sunday. 

There are two massive gas bubbles on the surface of the Baltic above the damaged pipelines in Sweden’s economic zone. One gas bubble measures a staggering 2,950 feet in diameter, while the other is about 600 feet. 

Several EU heads have called the incident “deliberate” and “sabotage,” with Finland stating that only a state actor was capable of the pipeline attack. 

Reuters quoted Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday, saying attacks against EU critical infrastructure would be met with a determined response. He called the acts “sabotage. “

“All currently available information indicates that this is the result of deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage.

“We, as Allies, have committed to prepare for, deter and defend against the coercive use of energy and other hybrid tactics by state and non-state actors. Any deliberate attack against Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response,” the statement continued. 

The Baltic region is getting more intense by the day as Norway, now Europe’s top natural gas supplier (recently displaced Russia), increased security at energy infrastructure sites, land terminals, and platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf. There were reports of mysterious drones buzzing oil rigs. 

The UN Security Council will meet Friday at Russia’s request to review the damage to NS1 and NS2. Russia’s US embassy asked for the meeting as it “insists on the need for a comprehensive and objective examination of the circumstances of the unprecedented attacks on Russian pipelines.”

Reuters said the embassy commented on its Telegram channel that the US attempts to “squeeze out” Russian oil firms from the global energy market through “non-market methods and sanctions.” 

The Russian prosecutor’s office told Interfax the Nord Stream incident is being investigated as an “international terrorism” probe.

For now, NS1 appears as if it won’t be operational anytime soon (NS2 was never operational though filled with gas). Before this winter and the reduction in NS1 capacity, the EU received about 40% of its NatGas via pipelines from Russia, a figure that Bloomberg now has around 9%.