Gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia shut after suspected leak

RoydadNaft – A subsea gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia was shut early on Sunday after an unusual drop in pressure probably caused by a leak, Finnish gas system company Gasgrid and Estonian operator Elering said.

Gasgrid said the cause was not yet known, but gas supplies were stable for now.

“I do not want to speculate at all on the cause of the leak,” senior Gasgrid executive Janne Gronlund told Reuters.

He said the pipeline had been isolated to prevent more gas from escaping.

The 77 kilometre (48 miles) Balticconnector pipeline between Inkoo in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia crosses the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea that stretches eastwards into Russian waters and ends at the port of St Petersburg.

In 2022, the larger Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany were damaged by explosions that authorities have said were deliberate acts of sabotage.

Sunday’s drop in pressure was registered just before 2 a.m. local time (2300 GMT) by Gasgrid in Finland and Estonian gas transmission system operator Elering, the Finnish company said.

The pipeline, which can export in either direction depending on where demand is greatest, was transporting a volume of around 30 gigawatt hours of gas per day from Finland to Estonia at the time of the incident, Gronlund said.

Elering said consumers in Estonia would receive gas from neighbouring Latvia.