Polish Gas Transmission Network Unaffected by Amber Grid Gas Pipeline Blast - Operator

WARSAW (Sputnik) - An explosion on a gas pipeline belonging to Lithuanian gas transmission operator Amber Grid and connecting Lithuania and Latvia did not affect the Polish gas transmission network, Polish gas operator Gaz-System said.

According to Amber Grid, the explosion occurred on Friday afternoon, at around 14:00 GMT, in the Pasvalys area in northern Lithuania. There were no casualties.

"Today's explosion of a gas pipeline belonging to Lithuanian Amber Grid, had no impact on the Polish transmission system. Security of supply remains unthreatened," Gaz-System said on Twitter.

Amber Grid said that the explosion occurred on one of two parallel pipelines in the area and that the second pipeline was not damaged.

"Gas supply to Pasvalys district and other consumers in Northern Lithuania is ensured through a parallel pipeline. Gas supply to Latvia was also restored on the same evening," the Lithuanian gas operator specified in a Friday statement.

No details were given on the exact cause of the explosion, but Amber Grid said that gas ignited during the incident and burned for about four hours.

"The gas supply to the damaged pipeline was immediately cut off and the fire burned until the gas in the pipeline section burned out," the gas operator said.

Amber Grid CEO Nemunas Biknius said that the damaged pipeline segment should be restored within a few days, and that there was no indication of any intentional damage to the pipeline.