Sweden confirms sabotage as cause of Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2 damage

The Swedish prosecutor leading the investigation into the damage to the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in Swedish waters concluded Nov. 18 that sabotage was the cause of the incident.

Both strings of the Nord Stream system and one of the strings of the parallel Nord Stream 2 were hit by suspected sabotage attacks on Sept. 26. The second Nord Stream 2 string remains intact and capable of flowing gas.

Mats Ljungqvist, prosecutor at the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Aklagarmyndigheten), said in a statement Nov. 18 that the incident was "gross sabotage."

"During the crime scene investigations that were carried out on site in the Baltic Sea, extensive seizures were made and the area has been carefully documented," Ljungqvist said.

"Analyses that have now been carried out show traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found. The advanced analysis work continues to be able to draw safer conclusions about the incident," he said.

The authority said the preliminary investigation was "very complex and comprehensive" and that the continued preliminary investigation would show whether anyone could be served with suspicion of a crime.

"The cooperation with authorities in Sweden and in other countries works excellently," Ljungqvist said.

Danish probes

Separate probes have been carried out in Danish waters by authorities in Denmark, while the Switzerland-based operator of Nord Stream has been given access to the areas in both Swedish and Danish waters.

Citing its own preliminary investigations, Danish police on Oct. 18 said that "powerful" explosions caused the damage to both the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline systems.

Copenhagen police, together with the Danish security service, carried out an initial probe at the site of the leaks in Denmark's exclusive economic zone.

The police said they had decided to set up a joint investigation group with the security service to handle the further investigation of the incidents.

Nord Stream AG -- 51% owned by Russia 's Gazprom -- said its preliminary results of the damage site inspection in Swedish waters found technogenic craters with a depth of 3 to 5 meters on the seabed at a distance of about 248 meters from each other.

It is currently surveying the damage in Danish waters.

Security concerns

The European gas market remains concerned over threats to key gas infrastructure following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

Gas prices rose after the incidents but have fallen in recent weeks on the back of healthy European gas storage stocks and gas demand reductions.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the Dutch TTF month-ahead price on Nov. 17 at Eur115.48/MWh, down from the record high Eur319.98/MWh in late August.

Neither Nord Stream nor Nord Stream 2 were flowing commercial gas to Europe at the time of the incidents, so there was no immediate impact on gas supply to Europe.

Nord Stream flows were halted Aug. 31 and did not resume operations due to what Gazprom has described as maintenance issues with turbines at the Portovaya compressor station.

Nord Stream 2 never started commercial operations despite construction work on the pipeline being completed in September 2021 and the lines being filled with gas in December.

The suspected sabotage against the pipelines has raised concerns over the possibility of further attacks on key European energy infrastructure.

This has prompted European efforts to bolster energy infrastructure security, with Norway, in particular, increasing security around its offshore oil and gas installations and pipelines.