The leak appeared yesterday due to the sharp drop in pressure in the pipeline. How this could happen is still not clear, and an investigation is underway. It became clear last night that the pressure in Nord Stream 1 has also decreased. It’s not clear exactly how this works, after all, the pipeline has been shutting down for weeks.

Safety zone around the Danish island

Danish authorities reported a gas leak in the Baltic Sea through which a gas pipeline passes. The ships were therefore required to maintain a distance from the island of Bornholm, where a safety zone had been established.

Nord Stream 2 is supposed to go live this year, but a few days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany decided to stop the approval process. Nord Stream 2 made it possible to double the amount of Russian gas to Germany.

Nord Stream 1 has been closed for weeks. According to Russia, this is due to technical problems. The European Commission accuses Russia’s state-owned Gazprom of stopping the flow of gas on “false pretexts”.

“Political pressure”

European leaders also see closing the Russian gas tap primarily as a means of political pressure. The European Union has imposed many sanctions on Russia because of the war in Ukraine, and this will be in retaliation.

Gas prices in Europe soared to record levels this summer after the initial announcement of the unscheduled maintenance of Nord Stream 1.