Nord Stream 1 & 2: An engineering marvel now a battlefront outside Ukraine

Far from the clash of weapons and wills on Ukraine soil lies a major feat of engineering under the Baltic Sea, believed targeted in recent covert attacks. Mystery shrouds the ruptures of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline corridors totaling about 200,000 concrete-coated pipes.  From pipes to pipelines, the Nord Stream project was a complex construction and logistics puzzle and involved suppliers and contractors from all over the world.

What caused the shocking expulsion of methane leak flows in the Baltic Sea in both Swedish and Danish waters?

Two powerful explosions, the second one equivalent to a amagnitude-2.3 earthquake, led Bjorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network to say,

“There’s no doubt, this is not an earthquake.”

This critical infrastructure was losing “expensive” gas in quantities that can only be estimated.

“The volumes contained in the pipeline could be equivalent to “several million tonnes of CO2”, the director of the German environmental group DUH, Sascha Mueller-Kraenner, said, according to ABC News. 

Nord Stream 1 & 2 were not operational at the time of the blasts due to U.S./NATO wartime sanctions. An energy crisis was growing as gas stopped flowing, yet gas remained pressurized in the pipelines. Before any evidence was in hand – accusations of sabotage flew from NATO, government officials in Ukraine, Poland, and Western media. All merged in agreement that the Russians blew up their own pipelines. The sabotage was “Kremlin-inspired,” according to one British military expert.

“Russia has shown a strong interest in protecting its pipelines. Last week, Russian security agencies claimed to have prevented a planned attack by the Ukranian military on the TurkStream pipeline.” (Forbes)

Oddly, the U.S. response to the destruction of the energy link has been “relaxed.” For years, in spite of international opposition to  Russia supplying natural gas to Europe, Berlin supported the expansive Nord Stream project.

November 8th, 2011. Ceremony of opening of gasoline Nord Stream. Among others Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev. Photo www.kremlin.ru https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nord_Stream_ceremony.jpeg

 It was in “no one’s interest” to destroy Nord Stream 1 and 2, said U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

However some, like former Polish Defense Minister, Rader Sikorsky, attributed the pipeline strikes to the United States, publicly applauding paralyzing the Nord Stream pipelines with  now-deleted tweets, one saying, “Thank-you, USA.”

Since the Ukraine/Russia conflict escalated in February, both Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen worked together to steer countries of Europe from dependence on Russian energy, remaining hardline to kill the flow of much needed gas through Nord Stream’s two 1,224-kilometre sub-sea pipelines – creating energy instability that could end up in a very cold winter.

The Russian embassy in Denmark said in a statement Wednesday the leaks were an act of “sabotage against the energy security of Russia and Europe”.

Two leaks were discovered In Swedish waters and two leaks in Danish waters, according to the Swedish Coast Guard near the  blast sites investigating.

Wouldn’t there be intelligence coverage in the area to prevent geo-terrorism such as this appears to be?

Relaxed attitudes of blowing up undersea natural gas pipelines leaves more questions than answers.

Where is the robust outrage and recognition of the magnitude consequences of blowing Nord Stream 1 & 2 up?  Is this an act of war on private infrastructure lying unsuspecting in the vast sea?  Billions of dollars were invested by private owners to provide the most direct connection between the vast gas reserves in Russia and markets in the European Union.

The five shareholders of the Nord Stream consortium are Gazprom international projects LLC (PJSC Gazprom subsidiary), Wintershall Dea AG (formerly Wintershall Holding GmbH), PEG Infrastruktur AG (E.ON), N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie and ENGIE.

Combined, the twin pipelines have the capacity to transport a combined total of 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to businesses and households in the EU for at least 50 years. The Boven Bovanenkovo oil and gas condensate deposit is the main natural gas base for the Nord Stream 1 & 2 running nearly parallel to each other. Bovanenkovo lies in Western Siberia (Russia), on the Yamal Peninsula.

Gas reserves there amount to 4.9 trillion cubic meters, providing “security of supply.” 

Think of the reaction if twin explosions ripped apart the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Virginia (considered one of the man-made wonders of the world as it goes over and under the water) or the BART transit system on the West coast.

Rather, Russia/Nord Stream get a hailstorm of blame. Nord Stream becomes another war zone. Until divers, experts investigate – there is present an international apathy of the destruction of an engineering marvel at the expense of European citizens. These same people are already sitting on the edge of a possible global conflict that started in Ukraine. Nord Stream energy for Europe is now collateral damage outside of Ukraine’s territorial fight against Russia that has pulled millions in willingly and unwillingly.

Nordstream worked through environmental impact with other nations.

Summarized from the Nord Stream website:

Because the pipelines pass through the territorial waters or Exclusive Economic Zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and could affect other nations, an extensive permitting and consultation process was required.

Construction of the pipelines was scheduled to minimise environmental impacts. For example, so as not to interfere with critical seal breeding and fish spawning seasons.

The Nord Stream twin pipeline system occupies less than one-thousandth of one percent of the Baltic Sea floor. Construction was planned to create only local, and minimal temporary disturbance of the sea floor environment.

The pipelines are made up of about 100,000 pipes each. Three lay barges were owned and operated by Nord Stream’s contractor, Saipem, and its sub-contractor Allseas. The pipe-laying was not without challenge in congested areas and shallow waters.

To minimise the potential of any long-term detrimental effects to the seabed, Nord Stream commissioned reputable independent experts in the fields of marine and hydrographic surveying to perform surveys and investigations to ensure the pipeline will be secure and safe to operate and will remain stable on the seabed throughout its lifetime.

The concrete-coated pipes were stored at five strategically chosen harbours around the Baltic Sea. The harbours chosen for short transportation routes, and transport by ship and train. This concept of short trips, along with environmentally-friendly transport saved roughly 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ when compared with other options.

In 2010, Nord Stream received the prestigious German Logistics Award from the German Logistics Association for its green logistics concept.

The Swedish Coast Guard is on the scene where gas is bubbling to the surface.

Since Tuesday afternoon on September 27th, the Swedish Coast Guard ship KBV 003 Amfitrite has been in a position close to the two leaks in the Swedish economic zone. KBV 003 Amphitrite has the ability to operate in a contaminated environment, for example, a gas cloud. They are there to monitor the gas still leaking and assist with maritime traffic.

Posted on the Swedish Coast Guard website is the following: the Swedish Maritime Authority is currently delivering navigational warnings to ships in order to now secure a distance of seven nautical miles (previously five nautical miles, but adjusted 2022-09-29, 7.34 pm) from the incident areas.

On September 16, Putin said that if Europe wanted more natural gas it should lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2. “The bottom line is,” he said, “if you have an urge, if it’s so hard for you, just lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year, just push the button and everything will get going.”

Yet, we still sit with State Dept. Under Secretary Victoria Nuland’s threat to Russia in January, trying to circumvent a military expansion into Ukraine. “If Russian invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” Was it a warning or prediction?

It might take days, weeks , months to uncover the truth…maybe we’ll never know. The further Nord Stream traveled to energy achievement – the closer it became to those wanting to tear it down.