Copenhagen, Denmark –
Swedish authorities still don’t know if an undersea power cable running between southern Sweden and Poland was damaged when Nord Stream gas pipelines some 500 meters (547 yards) away snapped in what Western and Russian officials said was intentional manipulation.
“Since the cable is not in service, it cannot be determined whether the cable is damaged in any way,” Per Kvarnefalk, a spokesman for Sweden’s public power transmission network operator Svenska Kraftnat, said Thursday night. “Therefore, we will be carrying out tests on the cable using special measuring equipment early next week with the aim of determining whether the cable is fully functional.”
Svenska Kraftnat is a partial owner of the over 250-kilometre-long high-voltage cable that transmits electricity across the Baltic Sea.
Following the suspected sabotage this week of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines carrying Russian natural gas to Europe, there were two leaks off Sweden, including a large one over North Stream 1 and a smaller one over North Stream 2, and two leaks outside of Denmark.
The North Stream 2 leak “has subsided but is still continuing,” the Swedish coast guard said. However, navigational warnings for ships were slightly increased to 7 nautical miles (13 kilometers or 8 miles) from 5 nautical miles from the incident areas, the coast guard said in a statement.
The Danish and Swedish governments have described the breakups as the result of “deliberate actions”.
Russia has also said the leaks were the result of deliberate acts, saying it “looks like a terrorist attack, probably carried out at the state level.”
Moscow has called for an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council to discuss the pipelines and called for a comprehensive international investigation to assess the damage to the pipelines. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a study would only be possible once gas stops coming out of them.
Nordic seismologists recorded explosions that preceded the leaks. A first explosion was recorded early Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. A second, stronger explosion northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake.
NATO warned Thursday that it would retaliate against any attack on critical infrastructure in its 30 member nations and joined other Western officials in citing sabotage as the likely cause of the damage to natural gas pipelines. Denmark is a member of NATO and Sweden is in the process of joining the military alliance.
The first leaks in oil pipelines stretching from Russia to Germany were reported on Tuesday, prompting energy companies and European governments to beef up security.
The security of energy infrastructure has increased throughout the Nordic region.
Fears of further damage to Europe’s energy infrastructure have added pressure to natural gas prices, which had already soared. Russia, a major supplier to Europe, cut deliveries earlier this year in retaliation for sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. That has caused widespread economic pain across the continent.
Authorities in Norway, a major oil and gas producer, have reported at least six incidents of drone sightings near offshore facilities in the North Sea. It prompted the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority, the Scandinavian country’s oil safety regulator, to “urge increased vigilance by all vessel operators and owners.” On Wednesday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said there was no concrete threat against Norwegian offshore oil and gas facilities.
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet said a drone was spotted on Wednesday near a Danish offshore oil and gas facility in the North Sea.
Sweden has stepped up security around its three nuclear power plants.