Gas pipeline explosion in Lithuania (AFP/)
An explosion damaged the Amber Grid gas pipeline, which connects the Baltic countries to Poland, in northern Lithuania, not far from the Latvian border, on Friday, without causing any casualties.
According to Lithuanian firefighters, the flames reached up to 50 meters in height and threatened the village of Valakeliai, near the town of Pasvalys. The village was temporarily evacuated.
“Around 5 p.m. (3:00 p.m. GMT), an explosion occurred on the Amber Grid gas pipeline in the Pasvalys district. According to initial data, no one was injured,” according to the statement from the Amber Grid group.
The explosion of one of the two pipes of the gas pipeline, the damaged section of which was built in 1978, occurred far from residential buildings, about five kilometers from Pasvalys, according to the operator.
A fire official told AFP that “the fire, which was about 50 meters high at its peak, had begun to wane”.
In a press release published on the Facebook account of the Pasvalys district authorities, “the gas pipeline fire was extinguished” in the evening. “The evacuees can return to their place of residence, on the decision of the head of relief operations”, according to this text.
– Ongoing investigation –
Nemunas Biknius, the CEO of Amber Grid, said in the statement that his group had “immediately started to investigate the circumstances of the incident and to secure the supply of gas to consumers”.
“In the immediate future, we have not observed any malicious action” linked to this explosion, but “the investigation will cover all possible scenarios”, he added to journalists.
According to Latvian Climate and Energy Minister Raimonds Cudars, mentioned by the Baltic news agency BNS, the gas pipeline explosion in Lithuania has so far not caused any problems with the supply of natural gas in Latvia.
Artis Pabriks in the electoral campaign, September 30, 2022 in Riga (AFP/Archives/Gints Ivuskans)
Nevertheless, “the gas pipeline explosion in Lithuania must be carefully investigated (and) even sabotage cannot be ruled out,” Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks tweeted.
The group said the gas pipeline where the fire broke out was used to supply gas to northern Lithuania and transport it to neighboring Latvia.
Since June 2022, Lithuania has prohibited itself from importing Russian gas, in the context of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
After regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, Lithuania was heavily dependent on Russian gas, until the commissioning in 2014 of an LNG terminal in Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea, then in 2022 that of a new gas pipeline linking the three Baltic States to the European gas network, via Poland.
In September, explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, linking Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, built to transport Russian gas to Europe. According to the Swedish prosecutor’s office, these explosions amount to sabotage.
© 2023 AFP
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