Police in western Norway have stepped up security measures and patrols at and around oil and gas infrastructure in the wake of the suspected sabotage of the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic Sea, a police representative told the Norwegian daily Bergensavisen (BA).
“We have increased our focus on preventive patrols at oil and gas installations in our area,” Operations Manager Helge Blindheim of the West Police District told BA in Bergen, which is home to or close to many oil and gas installations.
The West Police District in Norway is closely monitoring the situation, Blindheim told BA.
After the Nord Stream sabotage last year, Norway, Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, deployed Home Guard soldiers to protect energy infrastructure. The soldiers’ deployment came after Norwegian police asked the army for help in preventing incidents. Securing and guarding critical civil and military infrastructure is one of the Home Guard’s core missions, the Norwegian Army said in October.
After a suspected unnatural leak shut down the Balticconnector offshore pipeline between Finland and Estonia this weekend, Norway hasn’t yet resorted to similar measures.
The specter of sabotage of critical energy infrastructure in Europe is back, one year after the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
Investigations are ongoing in cooperation between Finland and Estonia, and NATO is ready to provide assistance.
Finland joined NATO earlier this year in the wake of its neighbor to the east, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.