Sweden reports leaks on Nord Stream 1, shortly after damage was found on Nord Stream 2
Swedish shipping authorities have warned of two leaks on Russia’s natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 on Swedish and Danish territories, This is reported by Reuters.
The leaks, located northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, were reported shortly after another report of an overnight gas leak from the non-operational Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The news comes as European and UK gas futures rose more than 4% on Tuesday morning after falling as much as 15% on Monday on reports of Europe filling its gas stockpile early.
Dutch benchmark first-month futures rose 5% to 182 euros per megawatt hour and UK natural gas futures GWMV22,
for October rose by as much as 8% to £260 per megawatt hour (MWh).
“There are two leaks on Nord Stream 1 – one in the Swedish economic zone and one in the Danish economic zone. They are very close to each other, a spokesperson for the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) told Reuters.
“We are keeping an extra watch to make sure no vessel comes too close to the site,” said another SMA spokesperson.
Nord Stream AG said in a statement on its website on Monday evening: “This evening, dispatchers of the Nord Stream 1 control center registered a drop in pressure on both strings of the gas pipeline.
“The causes are being investigated.”
Supply sprint
In early September, Russian state-owned Gazprom halted gas flow from the pipeline to Germany indefinitely, sending Dutch TTF gas futures for September to a peak of €345.52 per MWh.
EU countries have been sprinting to fill their gas storage capacity ahead of the winter months. Almost 90% of the EU’s gas stocks have been filled, according to data from Reutersabove its target of 80% on 1 October.
Germany, the country most dependent on Russian gas flows, has filled its storage to 91% capacity as of September 23.
Deutsche Bank analysts, led by chief economist Stefan Schneider, say one of the main reasons Germany has been able to achieve high storage levels is higher-than-expected energy savings from the industrial sector.
“Savings have reached around 20% year-over-year, exceeding our expectation that the 10% reduction achieved in mid-July would be the upper limit – at least in the near term,” they said in a client note on Tuesday.
The Deutsche Bank team cites a recent BDI survey, where a fifth of SMEs surveyed have switched from gas to other energy sources. However, more than 1/3 say that substitution is not an option for them in the short term.