Gas leak forces Finland-Estonia pipeline shutdown, sabotage not ruled out

A gas leak has been detected in the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, Reuters reports. The Estonian Navy says it is already searching for the location of the leak, using on-board sonars and remotely operated submarines, Estonian national broadcaster ERR reports. Reacting to the incident, Lithuania has increased protection of its own strategic infrastructure.

The exact location of the leak could take several days to find, a spokesman for the Estonian military stressed.

Meanwhile, Finnish media are announcing a special conference on the situation, which is scheduled for 17.30 on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Estonian gas system operator Elering said on Monday that no theories about what caused the leak had been ruled out, including sabotage. According to a source at Finnish media outlet Iltalehti, the fault could be linked to Russian aggression, but no further details have been given.

Estonia has ruled out the possibility that the leak was caused by a storm over the weekend, as the pipeline is too deep to be affected by high waves.

The Balticconnector was shut down early on Sunday following suspicions that gas was leaking from a hole in the 77-kilometre pipeline. Finnish operator Gasgrid said that if the leak is confirmed, repairs could take several months or longer.

The Estonian Navy has already started inspecting the Paldiski area on Monday evening using existing equipment. According to Commodore Jüri Saska of the Estonian Navy, if the pipe had been deliberately damaged, they would probably have known about it already, as both underwater and surface surveillance is being conducted.

Currently, Finland’s gas is supplied by the Inkoo floating LNG terminal, while Estonia receives its gas from Latvia via the LNG terminal in Lithuania.

Lithuanian authorities have increased the level of vigilance at strategically important facilities following an incident at a gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia, the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said on Tuesday.

“We would like to inform you that we have received information from international partners and the alert level has been raised at strategically important objects,” the statement from the NKVC said.