Poland Probes New Leak in Russian Oil Pipeline to Germany: ‘All Hypotheses Possible’

A man drives a jet ski on the Martwa river with the LOTOS Oil Refinery in the background in Gdansk, Poland, on June 6, 2022. Omar Marques/Getty Images

WARSAW—Polish energy operator PERN said on Oct. 12 that it had detected a leak in a key pipeline that ships Russian oil to Germany via Poland, with Warsaw saying it’s investigating but there’s no indication of sabotage.

After recent explosions rocked the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, suspicions were raised about another possible act of sabotage when PERN announced it had detected a leak late Tuesday in one of the the Druzhba pipelines bringing oil from Russia to Germany, prompting an immediate shutdown.

Poland’s top official in charge of energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger told Reuters that it appears that the damage was accidental and there were no signs of sabotage.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a Polish government spokesperson responsible for information security, said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday morning that the leak is being investigated and that “all hypotheses are possible.”

“The scale of the incident does not impact Poland’s security,” Zaryn added.

PERN said that Polish refineries continue to be supplied by one of two Druzhba pipelines that was not affected by the leak.

“The situation is also without impact on fuel supplies to Polish drivers,” said PERN spokesperson Katarzyna Krasinska, in a statement obtained and translated by The Epoch Times.

Crude oil tanks are pictured in Gdansk, Poland, on June 6, 2022. Omar Marques/Getty Images

Sergei Andronov, vice president of the Russian operator of the pipeline Transnieft, told Interfax that PERN had notified them about the leak.

Andronov confirmed that oil continued to be supplied to Polish refineries.

In an interview with Polish press agency PAP, Zaryn said that “what’s going on now in Europe means that such leaks must be investigated thoroughly” and that the probe would proceed “as fast as possible.”

While Zaryn didn’t explicitly mention the recent explosions that rocked the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, his remarks suggest there’s an elevated sense of threat to critical energy infrastructure.

Swedish authorities, who have been probing the Nord Stream leaks, said on Oct. 6 that they had found evidence of detonations, strengthening suspicions of “gross sabotage,” according to Sweden’s Security Service.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Oct. 10 that Sweden wouldn’t share the findings of its investigations into the explosions with Russian authorities.

“In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case,” she told reporters.

Europe, which has been heavily reliant on Russia for energy supplies, is facing an energy crisis as it tries to wean itself off Russian flows and after Moscow cut off gas supplies citing Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.