German prosecutors launch probe into suspected sabotage of LNG pipeline

The investigation comes as Germany seeks to increase its LNG import capacity.

German federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into a suspected case of sabotage after small holes were found in a liquefied natural gas pipeline under construction in the north of Germany.

Prosecutors have taken over an “investigation into the initial suspicion of anti-constitutional sabotage,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Public Prosecutor General told German public broadcaster NDR.

At least three ten-millimeter holes appeared to have been drilled at various places along the 55-kilometer-long pipeline, according to media reports. Gasunie, the company building the pipeline, first reported the holes attributable “to external interference” to police in November.

“All defects have been identified and most of them have already been repaired,” Gasunie reported on Thursday. The LNG pipeline is expected to be operational in February, several weeks after its planned start.

“We are expecting everything to be leak-proof because we have to put the lines into operation,” Philipp von Bergmann-Korn, a spokesperson for Gasunie, told POLITICO. “This is an important project for Germany’s energy supply.”

Germany has become increasingly reliant on LNG as it has moved to cut its dependence on natural gas from Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.