“Acts of sabotage. » As spectacular as they are enigmatic, the explosions which damaged, on Monday, September 26, the two Nord Stream gas pipelines, off the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, now raise fears of a new escalation in the face-to-face which opposes the West and Russia, while a fourth leak was confirmed Thursday, September 29.
With, this time, in the line of sight, all the energy infrastructures. “The main message sent by this act qualified as “sabotage” remains the vulnerability of all this equipment”, stresses Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, researcher on energy at the Jacques-Delors Institute, alerting to the fact that “If such accidents happened on a gas pipeline between Norway and Europe or Algeria and Europe, for example, it would be really problematic”.
Within the European Union, warnings have multiplied in this regard. “Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is totally unacceptable and will be met with a strong and united response”, said Wednesday, September 28, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. At this stage, the information available indicates that the leaks caused by these underwater explosions on these installations result from a “deliberate act”he insisted, in a statement on behalf of the twenty-seven EU member states.
“Inconceivable scenarios”
At the forefront of the countries to react, Germany said it wanted to be more vigilant. “We have to prepare for scenarios that were still inconceivable until recently,” Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, said in a statement. “The protection of our critical infrastructures”, which cover in particular the production of electricity, the transport of gas and raw materials or distribution, “has the highest priority”, she insisted.
“Everyone must be on high alert”, added Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of State for Energy, when she was questioned in Vienna on the same day about the potential risks surrounding LNG carriers delivering liquefied natural gas to Europe. For its part, Norway had also echoed, at the beginning of the week, an increase in the number of flights of unidentified drones near offshore installations, requesting “increased vigilance on the part of all ship operators and owners”.
Added to this state of feverishness is the feeling that a page has undoubtedly turned definitively in terms of Russian gas supplies. “Only yesterday, and despite the fact that they [Nord Stream 1 et Nord Stream 2] weren’t working, we still had hope that these gas pipelines could one day restart, explains Thierry Chapuis, general delegate of the French Gas Association. At present, we are entitled to think that this can only take place in the distant future or perhaps even never., he adds. According to Dimitry Marinchenko, director at Fitch Ratings: “It seems unlikely that repairs can be carried out quickly, not least because it would require cooperation between countries, which has become almost impossible in the current political situation. »
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