The gas leak “is dangerous for maritime traffic”, the Danish maritime authority said in a notice to ships.
The gas pipeline Nord Stream 2which connects Russia to Germany but has not been commissioned, is the victim of a gas leak in the Baltic Sea, the pipeline operator and Danish authorities announced on Monday.
After the announcement by the Danish maritime traffic authority of a gas leak detected on the route of Nord Stream 2, its operator confirmed in a press release sent to AFP that the leak affected the underwater gas pipeline, majority owned by the Russian giant Gazprom.
Spotted about twenty kilometers southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, just outside Danish territorial waters, the leak “is dangerous for maritime traffic“, indicates the Danish maritime authority in a notice to ships. “Navigation is prohibited within a radius of five nautical miles (about 9 kilometers, editor’s note) around the reported position“, specifies the authority.
“pressure drop”
According to unofficial AFP sources, an overflight ban has also been decreed for planes over the area. Just before the announcement of this incident on the Danish side, the German Ministry of the Economy had indicated that it was investigating a “pressure drop» unexpected and fast in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
This drop in pressure had been spotted overnight from Monday to Tuesday, according to the pipeline operator, “and the maritime authorities of Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Russia were notified immediately“. “Thanks to this cooperation with maritime authorities, the location of the incident has been identified in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone southeast of Bornholmwrites Nord Stream 2.
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Although its opening was canceled earlier this year in retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the pipeline had been “technically prepared” and “filled with gas“, explained Monday to AFP Ulrich Lissek, spokesperson for the company Nord Stream 2. This controversial pipeline was to strengthen the export capacities of Russian gas directly to Germany, in addition to the first Nord Stream gas pipeline. The latter was completely stopped at the beginning of September by Gazprom.
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