A pipeline ferrying natural gas between Finland and Estonia has become the focus of an international investigation into a potential act of sabotage, raising fresh concerns about the security of Europe’s energy infrastructure a year after explosions shut down the vital Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Gasgrid, Finland’s gas transmission operator, said Sunday that it had temporarily shut the 95-mile-long Balticconnector pipeline, running under the Baltic Sea, over a suspected leak. It will take at least five months before the pipeline can be reopened, Gasgrid said Wednesday.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has said the gas leak, as well as damage to an underwater communications cable, was likely “caused by external activity.” Fears that it may have resulted from an attack have contributed to a rise of more than 20% in European wholesale gas prices this week.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that it was important to establish the nature of the damage and how it had happened.
“If it is proven to be a deliberate attack on NATO critical infrastructure, then this will be of course serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined response from NATO,” Stoltenberg told reporters at a summit in Brussels.
The Balticconnector is part of a wider network that carries gas from Lithuania, through Latvia, Estonia and onto Finland. Since April, Finland has also been using the pipeline to send gas back to Estonia depending on demand, sourcing the fuel from a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Finnish side of the pipeline.
Source: cnn.com
