Nord Stream attacks highlight vulnerability of undersea pipelines in west
Nato countries are scrambling to improve security of highly vulnerable undersea pipelines and communications cables after the apparent Nord Stream attack in the Baltic Sea underlines the west’s extreme vulnerability.
Four gas leaks on two Nord Stream pipelines have now been reported after blasts were detected on Monday. According to several reports citing European officials, Russian vessels were seen in the vicinity of the Nord Stream I and II pipelines where they were damaged, but an examination of the damage may not be possible for weeks for safety reasons, and no proof of Moscow’s involvement has been presented.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, ordered stepped-up military and police patrols at the country’s oil and gas rigs and pipelines after the explosions. On Monday, before the Nord Stream blasts, the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority had reported unidentified drones flying near Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs. Støre described the drone activity as “abnormal”.
Norway is Europe’s principal gas supplier and has nearly 9,000km of pipeline to patrol. Any interruption in its supply could trigger an immediate energy crisis and a rupture in active pipelines would lead to an ecological disaster. Oslo has asked for help from Nato allies in helping patrol its infrastructure.
“The Norwegian response is understandable,” Britain’s first sea lord and chief of naval staff, Adm Sir Ben Key, said. “There is a vulnerability around anything that sits on the seabed, whether that’s gas pipelines, whether that’s data cables that places an obligation on organisations like the Royal Navy – but not just us – to have a means of monitoring and providing security around it.”
Key, speaking on board the aircraft carrier HMS Queen
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