The damaged gas pipeline connecting Estonia with Finland has been repaired. Balticconnector is still disabled

The necessary materials for the repairs have already been prepared, and Estonian operator Elering's spokesman Ain Koster said the company had reached an agreement with its Finnish partner Gasgrid. For security reasons, he will not disclose detailed information about the progress of the work.

According to the service agreement between the two system operators, Gasgrid is responsible for the repair, as the fault is located in Finnish territorial waters. Currently, no remedial measures are planned in the Estonian economic zone. However, in order to clean the pipeline and perform the pressure test, it is necessary to operate on both ends of the pipeline.

It ended recently Preliminary evaluation of pressure test in Balticconnector gas pipeline. Before the pipeline resumes commercial transmission, It will be necessary, among other things, to fill with filtered water, clean and calibrate, perform a hydrostatic pressure test, remove water, dry the tube and fill with nitrogen and then natural gas.

At the moment it is known that The pipe is partially filled with sea water and foreign bodies, i.e. mud, algae, etc. A temporary sound node will be built on shore to house the equipment needed to clean the gas pipeline and test the pressure.

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The first stage will remove unfiltered seawater that has entered the pipeline by mistake. Unfiltered seawater and sediments will be replaced with filtered and UV-treated seawater.

The Balticconnector gas pipeline, which runs through the Gulf of Finland, was damaged in early October.

According to an investigation by Finnish authorities, the pipeline was likely destroyed by the anchor strike of the Chinese cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear, which was then sailing from Königsberg to St. Petersburg as part of China's northern route.