Nord Stream Breaches a Stark Reminder of Undersea Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
on the Baltic, a broiling kilometer-wide circle disturbed the face of the sea and a huge mass of methane erupted into the air. The gas formed a cloud that crossed Europe, in what’s considered the greatest single release of this potent greenhouse gas ever recorded.It was caused by four breaches of Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, located in or near the territorial seas of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists detected explosions at a depth of 70-90 meters on the seabed. These were not earthquakes.Danish, Swedish and German authorities have reported that the explosions were a deliberate
US warns sanctions still an option against Nord Stream 2
The United States could yet impose new sanctions to try to block construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to the European Union, the U.S. ambassador to the EU said on Tuesday.Asked if Donald Trump could take further measures to thwart a project which the president has said would leave EU countries even more beholden to Moscow for their energy, Gordon Sondland said: "We have not deployed the full set of tools yet that could significantly undermine if not outright stop the project."Addressing an audience at the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels
Norway to Spend More Looking for O&G Near Russian Border
Norway plans to step up spending on looking for oil and gas in the northern Barents Sea close to its border with Russia, the country's 2019 budget showed on Monday.The government has proposed to allocate an extra 50 million Norwegian crowns ($6.04 million) to conduct a so-called 3D survey over a large geographical structure that straddles the border with Russia."Knowledge is crucial both for good resource management and for safeguarding national economic interests," Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Kjell-Boerge Freiberg said in a statement.The country's oil and energy ministry
February 2024
