After the high-profile sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines around a year ago, another pipeline in the Baltic Sea may have been damaged by outside influences. Finland assumes that damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline was caused by external influences.
Both President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo avoided openly talking about sabotage or suspecting Russia. However, both spoke of “external activity” that was probably the cause of the incident.
The affected Balticconnector pipeline runs between Finland and Estonia. The operating companies Gasgrid (Finland) and Elering (Estonia) noticed a sudden drop in pressure in the pipeline early on Sunday morning. Gas transport between the two EU countries was then interrupted. The line has been out of service since then. According to Gasgrid, the gas leak was stopped by isolating the section and closing the valves. The repairs are now expected to take months. The criminal investigation department launched an investigation to determine whether sabotage or something else was actually behind the incident.
NATO: “We are monitoring the situation very closely”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke to the Finnish president about the damage, as a NATO official reported in Brussels. The North Atlantic defense alliance is already in the process of strengthening the security of critical underwater infrastructure. “We continue to monitor the situation very closely.” NATO is in close contact with Estonia and Finland. In part as a reaction to the damage, prices on the European natural gas market rose sharply – but are still below the level they reached in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to government information, the leak is in Finland’s exclusive economic zone. According to a preliminary assessment, the damage found could not have been caused by normal use of the pipeline or by pressure fluctuations, Orpo said at a press conference in Helsinki. It is likely that the leak was due to external influences.
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö had previously linked the damage to the underwater infrastructure to external influences. “It is likely that the damage to both the gas pipe and the data cable was caused by external activity. What exactly caused the damage is not yet known,” he wrote in a statement. His Estonian counterpart Alar Karis spoke of “very worrying information”.
The cable in question is a communication cable that connects Finland and Estonia. According to the government in Tallinn, the damage is most likely in the Estonian economic zone. However, confirmation of this is still pending, said Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur. The investigation will show whether the leak in the gas pipe and the cable failure are connected. They would have occurred in different geographical locations. In terms of time, however, they are quite close to each other, said Pevkur.
Security of supply guaranteed
In the conversation with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, Niinistö reiterated that the incident had no impact on his country’s security of supply. The Estonian government also emphasized that gas supplies to the northernmost of the three Baltic states would not be affected. Several NATO allies expressed support for Finland and Estonia.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Orpo and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Von der Leyen said on X (formerly Twitter) that she strongly condemns any destruction of critical infrastructure. Lithuania said it would strengthen monitoring of its strategic infrastructure.
Balticconnector went into operation at the beginning of 2020. The approximately 150 kilometer long pipeline runs from Inkoo in Finland across the Gulf of Finland to Paldiski in Estonia. The affected offshore section in the sea is a good 77 kilometers long. The pipeline is significantly shorter than the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which were severely damaged in acts of sabotage near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm around a year ago. It is still unclear who was behind the Nord Stream attacks.
According to Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, there is information about which ships were moving around the pipeline during the incident. However, it is still too early to disclose this. However, the incident shows that special attention must be paid to securing critical underwater infrastructure.
Estonia: Damage of a mechanical nature
Unlike the incidents on the Nord Stream lines, seismologists did not record any major explosions when the Balticconnector leak occurred. Estonian government officials confirmed that the damage to the gas pipeline was mechanical in nature. A violent storm at the weekend or damage to the line due to waves could be ruled out as possible causes, said Elering CEO Kalle Kiik.
In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022. Around six months ago, the Nordic EU country was accepted into the defense alliance as the 31st member. It borders Russia for around 1,340 kilometers.
