During the weekend on October 8, the Finnish-Estonian gas pipeline Baltic Connector suffered an unusual drop in pressure. The Baltic Connector is an undersea pipeline which crosses the Gulf of Finland between Ingå in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia, connecting the gas grids of the two countries. This led to the pipeline shutting down, and the authorities on both sides of the Gulf started investigating the pipeline to find the leak. By the morning on October 10 damage was located in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), close to the middle of the Gulf of Finland. In addition, a telecommunication cable running in the same general area was cut at an as of yet unspecified location.
“Damage caused on purpose”
A Finnish press conference led by the country’s prime minister Petteri Oropo on October 10 provided further detail, including stating that the extent of the damage was such that it was caused on purpose by an external actor, and that it seems unlikely that explosives have been used. The pipeline will be out of service for “months”. As such, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation has started an investigation into the crime, which is classed as Gross Criminal Mischief being a particularly damaging attack on national energy infrastructure. However, the Finnish gas grid is still stable, as Finland since last year operate a floating LNG-terminal in Ingå in the form of the leased FSRU Exemplar. The terminal in Ingå however now cannot feed gas to Estonia if need be, though Estonia is still linked up to the Estonia–Latvia Interconnection.
The damage to the telecommunication cable is expected to be in the Estonian EEZ, and as such any criminal investigation will be handled by the Estonian authorities.
The sabotage has seen a number of vessels dispatched to the area, key of which are the flagship of the Finnish Border Guards, OPV Turva, and one of the Finnish Navy’s three premier minehunters, MHC Purunpää. In addition, Finnish hydrographic survey vessel Kaiku has also been surveying the pipeline. The Finnish and Estonian minehunters MHC Vahterpää (sister to MHC Purunpää) and ENS Sakala are reported to have held a joint training event earlier last week in the Gulf of Finland, but so far this seems to have been unrelated and neither vessel seems to have taken part in the survey work.
Russian sabotage?
Finnish authorities have so far stressed that the situation is serious but that there is no immediate threat. While they have refrained from naming Russia as the most likely culprit, they have also been clear that a sabotage of this kind is difficult – in particular as the area has seen quite heavy weather during the last few days – and require certain assets and resources. However, it has been reported that the Russian Project 865-class hydrographic survey vessel Sibiryakov apparently has been mapping the pipeline on a number of occasion during this year, the last of which was a month ago. The vessel is also known to have operated in the area of the Nord Stream sabotages:
Update 12 Oct. 2023
The Finnish Defence Forces released images of MHC Purunpää on location. The photos show it is using a Saab Doubleeagle ROV and a Kongsberg Hugin AUV for the investigation:
In addition, Estonian navy commander, Jüri Saska, shared some more details about the nature of the damage with local media EER:
EER: As for the hole in the gas pipeline that you have observed there – or otherwise how did you come to describe it as having been mechanically caused, and not by a diver?
Cdre Jüri Saska: If I now try to relate what I have seen without having the example to hand; the pipe itself is encased in concrete, while it looks just as if this was torn away on one side and the concrete has broken or peeled off, specifically at that rupture point. Whether this damage is only at that spot or [the pipeline] has been further damaged due to a lateral force is again something for the investigators to establish and answer.
EER: So it looks like the pipe is ruptured on both sides?
Cdre Jüri Saska: No, it still looks like it was rent from the one side, a bit like a hosepipe getting stuck behind your leg, then you’ve dragged it behind you.
