Baltic Sea gas pipeline leak Investigation and restoration is ‘a mountain beyond a mountain’ (comprehensive)

Denmark “Stop leaking Nordstream-2 gas pipeline”… Nordstream-1 seems to be ending soon

Possibility of another clash over the subject of investigation between Russia and the West… Recovery is difficult if seawater enters

Northstream-2 gas pipe leak

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(Brussels, Seoul = Yonhap News) Correspondent Bitna Jeong, Correspondent Jinsong Oh = The gas leak in the Nordstream, an undersea natural gas pipe connecting Russia to Europe, seems to have entered a lull for now.

The Danish Energy Agency announced on its Twitter account on the 1st (local time) that “Nordstream AG, the gas pipeline operator, has notified that the pressure in the Nordstream-2 gas pipeline appears to have stabilized.”

“This means that the gas leak has stopped in this pipeline,” the Danish Energy Agency said.

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Ulrich Risek, a spokesperson for Notrestream AG, told AFP that “the gas pipe is almost blocked by the hydraulic pressure, so the gas inside the pipe is not coming out.”

As the gas leaked, the atmospheric pressure inside the gas pipe dropped, which caused a pressure equilibrium between the surrounding seawater and the gas, which is interpreted to mean that the leak temporarily stopped.

“The conclusion is that there is still gas inside the gas pipe,” said Risek, but he did not immediately respond to the amount of gas remaining.

The Northstream-1 leak, which is known to be more damaged than the Northstream-2, is also expected to stop soon.

The Danish Energy Agency previously predicted that the Nordstream-1 leak would be stopped by the 2nd day and the operator AG would stop by the 3rd day.

In this regard, the diameter of the giant bubble observed on the surface of the Northstream-1 leak area reached 900m to 1km on the 26th of last month, the first day, but decreased to 600m on the 30th of last month.

[그래픽] Russo-Dock Northstream Gas Leak

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Young-eun = An additional gas leak has been discovered in the submarine natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, Archyde.com reported on the 29th (local time).
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However, even if the gas leak stops, it will take a considerable amount of time to determine the cause.

First of all, due to the nature of the submarine gas pipeline, it is practically difficult to access the site due to safety issues.

The leak point is in the waters of Denmark and Sweden, which are member countries of the European Union (EU), but since Gazprom, a Russian state-owned company, is the largest shareholder of AG, a Nordstream operator, it is difficult to determine the subject and method of investigation.

This is because both Russia and the West are unanimous in the need for an investigation, but are pointing arrows at each other over the cause of the accident.

Right now in the West, President Joe Biden has said that “we will work with our allies to find out exactly what happened.”

Germany has expressed its willingness to jointly investigate the leak area with Danish and Swedish authorities.

On the other hand, Russia has made it clear that it should not be excluded from the investigation as it is the owner of the gas pipeline.

The same goes for gas pipelines.

Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov told the UN Security Council on the 30th of last month (local time) that it was impossible to set a time for completion of the restoration as there had not been any leaks like this before. told

Some argue that if seawater flows into the gas pipe in earnest, the steel will be corroded by the brine, making it impossible to recover at all.

Earlier, on the 26th and 27th of last month, three Northstream-1 and Northstream-2 gas pipelines passing the seabed in Denmark and Sweden’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) were identified at leak points presumed to be caused by a large explosion. As one additional branch was found, concerns regarding safety accidents and environmental damage have increased.

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