“All possible scenarios” are explored
A gas pipeline in Lithuania was damaged by an explosion
A gas pipeline in northern Lithuania was damaged in an explosion on Friday. No one was injured. According to the gas network operator, the explosion may be due to technical reasons.
A gas pipeline in northern Lithuania was damaged in an explosion on Friday.
A nearby village was temporarily evacuated after a gas pipeline burst in Lithuania. According to the operating company, initially there were no signs of sabotage, but this possibility is also being carefully investigated.
The explosion did not occur near residential buildings, Amber Grid said. It happened around 5 pm local time, five kilometers from Paswallis town. The nearby village of Valageliai was temporarily evacuated. The fire was extinguished by evening and the people of Valagelia were able to return to their homes.
“All possible scenarios” are explored
Amber Grid’s chief executive, Nemunas Bignius, said an investigation into the cause of the incident and measures to maintain gas supply had already begun. There is currently no indication that the damage was intentional, but “all possible scenarios” are being investigated.
It is now clear: according to the gas network operator, the explosion in the gas pipeline in northern Lithuania was probably due to technical reasons. “The first study shows that a fold can simply disappear,” Amber Grid CEO Nemunas Bignius told BNS on Saturday.
The gas pipeline, built in 1978, supplies natural gas to northern Lithuania and Latvia. It has two tubes, one of which was damaged by the explosion. A fire brigade official said the fire reached a height of 50 meters.
In June 2022, Lithuania banned Russian gas imports to reduce its energy dependence on Moscow in the face of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. After Lithuania gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, the country was initially heavily dependent on Russian gas. An import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Klaipėda on the Baltic Sea, opened in 2014, provided a solution.
Explosion on anniversary of attempted invasion
In 2022, Lithuania commissioned a pipeline connecting the three Baltic states to the European gas network via Poland.
Friday’s blast came on the anniversary of an attempted invasion. On January 13, 1991, Soviet troops marched across the border to reoccupy Lithuania. The attempt failed.
In September, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running between Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea were damaged by explosions. According to the Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office, these are acts of vandalism. (SDA)
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