The authorities of Denmark have asked ships to stay away from a radius of five nautical miles front to Bornholm Island, in the Baltic Sea, after several leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, Russian-owned and completely closed to the flow as Vladimir Putin’s response to sanctions over the war in Ukraine. It is unknown what caused these leaks.
Denmark has put in alert to the energy sector since these gas leaks are “very dangerous for maritime traffic”. The leak has caused a drop in pressure in both gas pipelines, dropping from 105 bars to 7 in one of them. The authorities have detected a “great bubble field near Bornholm”, As confirmed by the Nord Stream spokesman, Ulrich Lissek.
Also the Swedish authorities have issued a warning by these two leaks. “There are two leaks in Nord Stream 1, one in the Swedish economic zone and one in the Danish economic zone. They are very close to each other,” a spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration confirmed to Reuters.
[Qué empresas ganan con la guerra en Ucrania: Glencore con el carbón, Gazprom con el gas y las grandes petroleras]
This incident occurred shortly after a leak was detected on Sunday night in one of the threads of Nord Stream 2, also in the Danish exclusive economic zone, but this time southeast of Bornholm.
Nord Stream 2, full but never open
For its part, the Government of Germany has confirmed the pressure drop in the Nord Stream 2over and full of gas, but why this fuel has never been imported after Berlin suspended the approval process shortly before the war in Ukraine and rules out its implementation.
In fact, Germany’s decision to block the flow of gas through this pipeline was in response to Moscow’s recognition of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, in February.
Nord Stream 1, closed by Putin
In regards to North Stream 1with a capacity of 55,000 million cubic meters of gas per year, its flow was stopped by Russia on September 2 indefinitely.
[Gazprom recorta las entregas de gas a la francesa Engie por un “desacuerdo” en la aplicación de contratos]
The pipeline was supposed would reopen on September 3 after repairs of an oil leak in its only operating turbine, however, it cannot be repaired by Gazprom, which controls the infrastructure, due to Western sanctions, a decision that for the European Union is a clear blackmail Europe with gas as a weapon.
In fact, this Gazprom decision came just a few hours after the finance ministers of the countries of the G7 (United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and Japan) decided to impose a cap -that is, to put a limit price- on Russian oil exports. The objective of this measure is to prevent the Kremlin from taking large revenues as the price of a barrel of crude rises.
