Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced Tuesday evening that the large gas leak in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near a Danish island in the Baltic Sea was a “deliberate act” and “not an accident.”
“The clear view issued by the authorities is that they were premeditated actions. We are not talking about an accident,” she said during a press conference.
Denmark’s Energy and Climate Minister Dan Jorgensen told a government press conference that Copenhagen estimates that leaks from non-operated but full gas pipelines will last “at least a week” until the underwater pipelines run out of methane.
“We have no information yet about who is responsible,” Frederiksen added.
Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines have been at the center of geopolitical tensions in recent months with Russia cutting gas supplies to Europe, in what is believed to be a response to Western sanctions against it after its military operation in Ukraine.
While the Nord Stream pipelines, operated by a consortium of companies majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom, are currently out of service, both pipelines still contain gas.
One of the Nord Stream 1 leaks occurred in the Danish Economic Zone, the other in the Swedish Economic Zone, while the Nord Stream 2 leak was in the Danish.
The gas leak was first reported on Nord Stream 2 on Monday.
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