Objects of geopolitical standoff in recent months, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas infrastructures, built to transport Russian gas to Europe, were closely watched after being damaged by underwater explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, which occurred on Monday, which caused hundreds of thousands of tons of methane to leak into the atmosphere.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which connects Russia to Germany, no longer leaks under the Baltic Sea, a spokesman told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. “The water pressure has more or less closed the gas pipeline, so the gas that is inside cannot come out”said Nord Stream 2 spokesperson Ulrich Lissek. “The conclusion is that there is still gas in the pipeline”he added, without being able to specify the quantity.
The Nord Stream 1 leak has started to falter
Information regarding the status of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline leak was not yet available. The two pipelines operated by a consortium dependent on the Russian giant Gazprom are not operational due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, but they were both still full of gas.
Friday evening, the Swedish coastguard announced that the leaks on Nord Stream 2 were weakening, due to the exhaustion of the gas contained in the pipes. The diameter of the surface bubbling caused by the leak, located in the Swedish exclusive economic zone, was now only 20 meters wide, ten times less than at the beginning. The leak on Nord Stream 1, more powerful, had also started to weaken on Friday at the end of the day, with a marine boiling down to 600 meters in diameter, against 900 to 1,000 meters at the start.
The Danish and Swedish authorities had estimated Friday in a letter to the UN Security Council that the leaks should stop by Sunday, with the exhaustion of tens of thousands of tons of gas contained in the gas pipelines. “All available information indicates that these explosions are the result of a deliberate act”also wrote Sweden and Denmark, without naming a responsible country.
The origin of the explosions remains a mystery, however, with Moscow and Washington denying any responsibility. Ukraine has claimed that these leaks were the result of a “planned terrorist attack” by Russia against European countries.