Ukraine (bbabo.net), - After the gas leak at Nord Stream, the European Union started talking about a possible infrastructure war. The Norwegian authorities announced an increase in the level of emergency preparedness at oil and gas production and transportation facilities. The local regulator announced the appearance of unmanned aerial vehicles at production platforms in the North Sea on September 26 - the day of the state of emergency on the Baltic gas pipelines from Russia to Germany.
Sabotage led to a gas leak at Nord Stream. Most European politicians adhere to this version. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) recorded fluctuations of magnitude 2.3 and 2.1 in the area of gas pipelines on September 26.
“The signals are not like the signals from earthquakes. They resemble signals recorded from explosions, ”the GEUS report says. The service recorded explosions in the Nord Stream 2 area at 02.03, and near Nord Stream at 19.03.
The Swedish police launched a preliminary investigation into the sabotage.
“The sharp drop in pressure recorded as a result of a gas leak on both strings of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline allows us to confidently assume that the leakage of the gas pipeline is caused by physical damage,” the operator Nord Stream AG said in a recent report. The company has previously reported unprecedented damage and an inability to estimate recovery times.
In the European Union, except for Polish politicians, they do not make assumptions about who may be guilty of sabotage. However, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned on Twitter that the violation of the existing energy infrastructure will lead to the strongest response from the EU.
In Norway, meanwhile, they decided to increase emergency preparedness at oil and gas facilities.
“The government has decided to apply emergency preparedness measures to infrastructure and facilities on land and on the Norwegian continental shelf. There are reports of drone activity. An investigation is underway. Basically, there are concerns about the safety of offshore operations,” said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland.
Coincidentally, on September 26, when the Nord Stream explosions occurred, the Norwegian Petroleum Security Administration (PSAN) announced that it had received notifications from offshore operating companies about the appearance of unidentified flying vehicles (drones) near the platforms. PSAN added that the drones approached the structures and violated the 500-meter security zone established around the facilities.
“Now the conflict can develop in any direction. Indeed, the Nord Stream explosions open up a new front, and Russia has every moral right to use the same means of struggle as the Western countries — the destruction of infrastructure. Although whether Russia will do it is a big question. After all, we see that even in Ukraine, Russia has not destroyed the unified energy system and the transit of gas through Ukraine is still preserved. In Kyiv there is electricity and the Internet works. It is unlikely that in the presence of an integral infrastructure in Ukraine, we will see Russian strikes on foreign gas pipelines in the Baltic or North Seas, ”says Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the FNEB and an expert at the Financial University under the Government of Russia.
The expert does not rule out that Russia itself may be accused of sabotage at Nord Stream.
“After all, it is obvious to everyone that these were deliberate explosions. And you need to point to someone. Naturally, the Europeans do not admit that this was done at least with the participation of the United States. Therefore, they will blame Russia. However, they kept saying that Russia wants to launch Nord Stream 2, and this is allegedly one of the goals of the Russian NWO in Ukraine,” added Igor Yushkov.
Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian telegram channel Resident, the Office of the President of Ukraine sent proposals to Berlin to increase gas supplies through Ukraine. Ukrainian transit of Russian gas itself is now carried out in limited volumes. The “Ukrainian GTS Operator” has declared force majeure at one of the two gas receiving points on the border, Sohranivka, which is under the control of the Russian army. Gazprom, however, did not see any force majeure obstacles: it refused to transfer the volumes contracted at Sokhranovka to Sudzha and stopped paying for the canceled volumes.
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