Repairs to a gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia following a suspected leak could take months to complete.
Finnish gas system operator Gasgrid said the Baltic connector pipeline suffered a sharp drop in pressure, and work is ongoing to confirm the exact location and cause of the outage.
"If it appears that the unusual pressure drop observed in the morning of October 8 is due to a leak that caused damage to the pipe, repair work may take at least several months depending on nature of the damage," the company said.
The valves of the pipeline have been shut to prevent more gas from escaping.
The 77 km (48 miles) Baltic connector pipeline between Inkoo in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia crosses the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea that stretches eastwards into Russian waters and ends at the port of St Petersburg, Reuters reported.
In 2022, the larger Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany were damaged by explosions that authorities have said were deliberate acts of sabotage.
The pipeline, which can export in either direction depending on where demand is greatest, was transporting a volume of around 30 gigawatt hours of gas per day from Finland to Estonia at the time of the incident, Gasgrid said earlier.
Both Elering and Gasgrid said consumers in their respective countries continued to receive gas from other sources.
Gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia shut due to leak
