The Swedish coast guard has said it’s discovered a fourth Nord Stream gas pipeline leak. The key infrastucture was damaged earlier this week in an alleged act of sabotage.
Initially, it was believed that the pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea were damaged in three locations, with two strings of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 being affected.
But Swedish coast guard spokesperson Jenny Larsson told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper on Thursday that there were in fact four leaks in the undersea infrastructure. “Two of these four are in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone,” Larsson said, adding that the two others were in the Danish exclusive zone.
Danish authorities discovered leaks on the pipelines, built to deliver Russian natural gas to the EU, on Monday after the operator reported a loss of pressure on both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.
Danish and Swedish authorities later said there was a series of undersea explosions near the island of Bornholm. This led to Russia, the US, and Sweden suggesting the leaks may have been the result of a deliberate act.
The EU has labeled the incident “sabotage action” and warned that “any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response.”
The pipelines have been at the heart of the energy standoff between Moscow and Brussels since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
Nord Stream 2 was completed in September 2021, but never entered commercial operations as Germany halted its certification indefinitely, while gas supplies via Nord Stream 1 were slashed by Russia in late August over what it said were technical difficulties resulting from Western sanctions.
The pipelines were still filled with pressurized gas at the time of the explosions, and will keep leaking into the Baltic Sea until the end of the week, according to Danish authorities.