Leak in pipeline between Finland and Estonia possible sabotage: European gas prices rise 10 percent | Abroad

In the submarine pipeline in question in the Baltic Sea, an unexpected loss of pressure occurred on Saturday night in Finnish waters. Both Finland and Estonia immediately started investigations. “It is likely that the damage to the gas pipeline and telecom cable is the result of outside activity,” Sauli Niinistö said. He emphasized that it is still unclear what caused the leak. Finland and Estonia are still investigating the case.

The messages are reminiscent of the explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year. It is still not clear who was behind it. The Nord Stream pipelines connect Russia with Germany, but the only one of the two pipelines in use had already been closed by the Russians at the time of the explosions.

The Finnish president also had contact with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He stated on X, formerly Twitter, that the alliance is ready to provide support and share information.

Finland uses relatively little natural gas. It accounts for about 5 percent of the country’s total energy consumption. The damaged gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland had been in use since early 2020. Since last year, it has been the only pipeline through which Finland can import gas, as Russian state gas company Gazprom stopped gas supplies last year. This happened because Finland refused to pay for gas in rubles, a demand the Kremlin made to “unfriendly” states that support Ukraine in the war with Russia.

The Finnish gas network operator Gasgrid called the situation on the energy network stable. This is possible thanks to the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) via a floating terminal at Inko in the south of the country.

Due to the escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, gas prices rose further on Tuesday to the highest level in four months. Energy company Chevron already closed a gas field at the request of the Israeli government. The news of possible sabotage of the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia sent gas prices higher later in the day.

European gas prices rose more than 10 percent on Tuesday afternoon. The gas price also rose to almost 50 euros per megawatt hour on the Amsterdam gas exchange – a benchmark for Europe. This is an increase of 12 percent. On Monday, the gas price on that exchange had also risen by almost 15 percent.

Despite the fact that European gas supplies are almost completely full for the winter and industrial demand for gas is still well below the historical average, the European gas price remains extremely sensitive to changes in supply. This is because Russian gas supplies to Europe have almost completely disappeared since last year and must be supplemented with the import of LNG (liquefied natural gas, ed.) from other parts of the world.

For example, the gas price also rose last week, after staff in Australian LNG factories announced that they would stop work again in order to, among other things, demand higher wages. Last weekend, a leak was discovered in a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.

Meanwhile, weather forecasts show that temperatures in northwestern Europe are likely to drop from next week, prompting more people to turn on the heat. In addition, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that low industrial demand for gas and large inventories still do not guarantee stable prices during the heating season. “The risk of price volatility, especially in the event of a cold winter, is a cause for concern,” the IEA said.