Finland and Estonia say the undersea Balticconnector fuel pipeline working between the 2 international locations throughout the Baltic Sea has been quickly taken out of service as a result of a suspected leak
HELSINKI — Finland and Estonia stated Sunday that the undersea Balticconnector fuel pipeline working between the 2 international locations throughout the Baltic Sea has been quickly taken out of service as a result of a suspected leak.
Gasgrid Finland and Elering, the Finnish and Estonian fuel system operators, stated they famous an uncommon drop in strain within the pipeline shortly earlier than 2 a.m. Sunday, after which they shut down the fuel movement.
“Based mostly on observations, it was suspected that the offshore pipeline between Finland and Estonia was leaking,” Gasgrid Finland stated in an announcement. “The valves within the offshore pipeline are actually closed and the leak is thus stopped.”
The Finnish operator gave no cause for the suspected leak and stated it was investigating along with Elering.
Gasgrid Finland stated the Finnish fuel system is steady and the provision of fuel has been secured by the Inkoo floating LNG terminal, referring to the offshore assist vessel Exemplar — a floating liquefied pure fuel terminal on the southern Finnish port of Inkoo.
Elering stated the accident didn’t have an effect on the fuel provide to Estonian customers. After the shutdown of Balticconnector, fuel for Estonian customers was coming from Latvia, it stated.
Earlier than the closure, the pipeline operated by transferring fuel from Finland to Estonia. A lot of the fuel that arrived from Finland was forwarded to Latvia, Elering stated.
The size of the offshore a part of the Balticconnector working from Inkoo to the Estonian port of Paldiski is 77 kilometers (48 miles) lengthy. The pipeline began industrial operations originally of 2020.
In September 2022, the Nord Stream fuel pipelines working between Germany and Russia within the Baltic Sea had been hit by explosions in an incident deemed to be a sabotage. A complete of 4 fuel leaks had been found on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. The case stays unsolved..
Finland and Estonia are each European Union and NATO members that share border with Russia and stopped importing Russian oil and fuel since 2022, as a part of sanctions towards Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.