Germany's Federal Environmental Agency (FEA) said its calculation of the amount of methane released was based on the likely filling status of the pipes and information on the volume of gas from the two pipelines.

There are no containment mechanisms on the pipelines, so the entire contents of the pipes are likely to leak out.

This is reported by Bloomberg.

In Germany, approximately 300,000 tons of methane were released into the atmosphere as a result of the leak, which is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases.

This amount of gas would have about the same impact on the climate over a 20-year period as the annual emissions of about 5.48 million cars in the United States.

Methane has 84 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere, but decays rapidly thereafter.

At an event in the European Parliament on the evening of September 27, lawmakers, scientists and environmentalists discussed how to measure the scale of the leak, but were united in one thing: it is an environmental disaster.

Germany has said that the leakage from the "Nord Stream" is equivalent to approximately 1% of the country's total annual emissions.

"The most direct impact of these gas leaks on the climate is an additional dose of the powerful greenhouse gas methane. However, this is a tiny bubble in the ocean against the huge amount of so-called volatile methane that is emitted every day around the world from coal and oil production," said Dave Ray, executive director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute.

The largest known release of methane in the USA occurred in 2015 at a gas storage facility in the Aliso Canyon (Los Angeles), where more than 97,000 tons of methane were released in a few months.

For comparison: the gas leak from the "Nord Stream" could last for several hours.

We will remind,

on September 26, the mass media reported about the accident on the "North Stream-2" gas pipeline.

According to journalists, a sharp drop in pressure was recorded on one of the object's lines.

After Nord Stream-2, another Russian gas pipeline had an accident.

A decrease in pressure was also recorded on both threads of Nord Stream-1.

After accidents on Russian gas pipelines, Denmark informed about gas pollution of the Baltic Sea.

The German authorities do not rule out that the accidents on the Nord Streams could have occurred as a result of planned sabotage.

Sweden reported the fourth gas leak from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

Coast Guard vessels are near the site of the leak, and the investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

  • Earthquake to no avail: the leak at "Nordic Streams" was caused by explosions — Reuters

  • The first photos and videos from the accident site on "Northern Stream-2" have appeared 

  • "A new phase of the hybrid war": Latvia commented on the accidents on the "Nordic Streams"

  • "Proof of Russia's cynicism": the European Commission does not believe in the failure of the "Nord Stream"