Norway’s Military to Protect Oil and Gas Installations
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Norway’s prime minister has announced that the country’s military will be deployed to shore up security at the nation’s oil and gas facilities. Earlier this week, Sweden and Norway reported gas leaks in key Russian pipelines through the region.
"The military will be more visible at Norwegian oil and gas installations," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference, reported by Reuters news agency.
He added that police and the Navy would also be involved to protecting the country’s extensive network of offshore installations.
The announcement comes following concerns that the gas leaks were a deliberate act of sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Nato said that the leaks are "deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage".
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are key pipelines that supply Russian gas to Europe. They are not currently actively transporting Russian gas, but they do contain gas.
Nord Stream 1 was shut down in August with the Russian citing maintenance requirements. Nord Stream 2 was meant to increase the flow of Russian gas to Europe but never fully began operations before Russian’s invasion of Ukraine last February. It has since been mothballed.
A video released by Denmark's Defence Command shows bubbles on the surface of the Baltic Sea. Prohibition zones have been established around the leaks and a pollution control vessel will be monitoring water pollution in the area.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway has today (Thursday) convened an extraordinary safety meeting with oil and gas operators in the country to discuss the evolving situation.
Earlier this week the PSA warned the public and oil and gas operators to watch out for unmanned drones. There was an increase of unidentified drone activity around offshore oil installations in September and there are concerns that they may be used to carry out attacks.
Norway is one of the biggest oil suppliers in the world and it is the biggest gas supplier to Europe - a position previously held by Russia.
Concern about the leaks and the security of European gas supply has roiled energy markets and caused European gas prices to soar.
