Finnish and Swedish publications cited sources claiming that the pipeline was not damaged naturally.
UK gas prices soared on Tuesday afternoon after Swedish and Finnish media reported that Finland’s government is set to say that damage to an underwater gas pipeline was not accidental.
The pipeline, which started to leak over the weekend, runs between Finland and Estonia, across the bay of Finland.
It comes into land around 40-50 kilometres (25-31 miles) to the west of the two countries’ capitals, Helsinki and Tallinn.
But on Tuesday, authorities in Finland called the media to a press conference, Swedish Radio, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti and state broadcaster Yle all reported.
Energy is a global market.
If gas prices increase sufficiently where the pipeline gas is consumed, some suppliers that supply the UK may consider rerouting gas supply to capture the increased price and profit. This means less supply for the UK which increases prices there also until there’s a balance. Higher prices mean people will use less gas until the supply in each area is enough to meet demand.
Did then gas prices increase across the whole of Europe? (I’m don’t closely follow this market). I know it’s a UK newspaper, but the article seems to be very focused on UK and I didn’t see this issue mentioned anywhere else.
I haven’t followed the effect of this particular shock on gas prices but generally with any supply shock it’ll depend on the magnitude and duration of the shock. The bigger the damage and longer it takes to repair means less gas delivered in the same time period.
If the shock is big and/or long (giggity), then I’d expect it to affect anywhere in Europe gas can be redirected from.