Satellite monitoring of heat levels at a new liquefied natural gas facility near the Finnish border shows it has been happening since July 11 – and an estimated $10 million (£8.4 million) worth of natural gas is being burned every day. The explosion first came to light a few weeks ago when Finns noticed a large flame on the horizon on the Russian border. Analysis by Norway-based Rystad Energy, an independent energy research firm, shows that about 4.34 million cubic meters of gas are flared each day. That’s “enough natural gas to power 1.5 million European homes,” Sindre Knutsson, Rystad Energy’s senior vice president of natural gas and LNG markets, told Sky News. He also described the amounts of carbon dioxide the plant produces as an “environmental disaster”. While the burnout may be part of testing procedures at the Portovaya LNG plant or due to a lack of coordination between different operational departments, experts said “the potential magnitude and duration of this continuous burnout period is quite extreme.” Mr Knutsson said similar observations had been made by various companies interpreting the satellite data, “confirming these levels of heat radiation”. “In this LNG facility that’s under construction right now, there’s a significant amount of flaring going on,” he said. The Portovaya plant, which is located northwest of St. Petersburg and is due to start up this year, is located near a compressor station at the start of the Nord Stream 1 undersea natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Supply was interrupted for 10 days in July while the pipeline underwent annual maintenance, and while it has since been restored, natural gas flow is running at one-fifth of its capacity. Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy company, cited faulty or delayed equipment as the main reason behind this. Germany disputes this, saying it is a pretext and that Moscow is using natural gas as a weapon to push back against Western pressure to invade Ukraine – fueling soaring prices and a worsening cost-of-living crisis ahead of winter. Russia denies this and says Western sanctions are the reason for high gas prices. Read more: UK not importing fuel from Russia in June Putin to increase size of Russian armed forces “The exact cause of the explosion is uncertain because there was no proper communication from Gazprom or Russia,” Mr Knutsson said. He said there could be several reasons for the explosion with Russia being in a “gas surplus at the moment”. “There are many possible reasons, but we don’t know the exact one,” he said. There are also concerns about the amounts of carbon dioxide and soot the plant creates. “That’s the equivalent of 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide on a daily basis which is really an environmental disaster,” Mr Knutsson said.
