MOSCOW (Reuters) – A blast has ripped through the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhhorod gas exporting pipeline, which leads from northwest Siberia in Russia through Ukraine, the RBC news outlet cited local officials as saying on Tuesday.
Local officials said on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been injured and the flow of gas through the section of the pipeline had been cut as of 1:50 p.m. (1050 GMT).
The Chuvashia regional Emergencies Ministry said the pipe had been severed near the village of Kalinino, about 150 km (90 miles) west of the Volga city of Kazan, and that the gas flare had now been extinguished.
The pipeline, which brings gas to Europe from Russia’s Arctic, was built in the 1980s. It enters Ukraine via the Sudzha metering point, currently the main route for Russian gas to reach Europe.
The state-owned gas producer Gazprom and its local branches did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gazprom said earlier on Tuesday that it expected to pump 43 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine through Sudzha in the next 24 hours, a volume in line with recent days.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
