Page 9 - EurOil Week 47 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

FSB claims sabotage foiled at

“South Stream” gas pipeline

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S federal security service (FSB) “As a result of a complex of operational and
reported on November 24 that it had prevented search measures, the Russian FSB prevented an
It is not the first time a sabotage attempt by Ukrainian special forces attempt by Ukrainian special services to com-
Moscow has claimed at the “South Stream” gas pipeline. mit a sabotage and terrorist act at an oil and
it has foiled a sabotage “As a result of a set of investigative measures, gas facility that supplies energy to Turkey and
attempt at the Black [the FSB] prevented an attempt by Ukrainian Europe,” the FSB said.
Sea pipeline. special services to commit an act of sabotage A man and four accomplices were subse-
and terrorism on the South Stream gas pipe- quently detained. The man was recruited by
line supplying energy resources to Turkey and the Ukrainian security services, while the four
Europe,” the FSB said. accomplices were Russian citizens that played a
South Stream was a former pipeline project major role to prepare for the attack, according
that would have run from Russia to Bulgaria, to the FSB.
but was axed in 2014. It is unclear whether the Across Europe, there is heightened alert
FSB was referring to the TurkStream, South over the risk of sabotage of energy infra-
Stream’s replacement, which was completed at structure, following the suspected man-made
the end of 2019. It is capable of flowing 31.5bn explosions that caused major leaks at the
cubic metres per year of gas, with half of that Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in late Septem-
capacity reserved for the Turkish market and ber. Those incidents have rendered the pipe-
the other half for southern Europe. lines unusable, at least for a year, leaving only
This is not the first time that Russia has TurkStream and the Ukrainian gas system
claimed sabotage attempts against its Black as routes for Russian gas heading to Europe.
Sea pipeline. The FSB reported a foiled sabo- The Yamal-Europe pipeline that runs through
tage attempt in September against an oil and Europe is still operational, but sanctions and
gas facility in the Black Sea area that supplies counter-sanctions imposed by Russia and
energy to Turkey and Europe, in a likely refer- Poland have made its westward flow impossi-
ence to TurkStream. ble. ™

Week 47 28•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9