Norway wants to maintain larger gas supplies to Europe for years to come | Abroad

When Russian President Vladimir Putin cut off gas to Europe last summer against the background of the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union turned to Norway, among others, to fill its reserves and pipelines. “Norway has been able to increase its gas supplies to Europe over the past year and it is our ambition to maintain that high level for the next four to five years,” Støre assured.

According to von der Leyen, it was partly thanks to Norway that the European Union was able to turn down Putin’s “attempted blackmail”. “Norway helped us at a critical moment. It increased production from 78 to 90 million cubic meters of gas and that really helped us through the winter. We are pleased to hear that we will continue to maintain this level of support for years to come.” she thanked the Norwegian Prime Minister.

In no time Norway dethroned Russia as the main gas supplier of the European Union. The Scandinavian country, which is not itself a member state, now accounts for 30 to 40 percent of all deliveries. The production of Troll A alone, a huge platform some 65 kilometers west of the Norwegian coast, can cover about 10 percent of the total European gas consumption.

Norway has a total of about 90 offshore installations and 8,000 kilometers of pipelines. The sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last September underlined the importance of proper protection. “This infrastructure is very important, but that also makes it vulnerable, not least because of its size,” acknowledged NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also present.

“Obviously we cannot protect every meter at all times, but we are now exchanging more intelligence, we are strengthening our surveillance and presence at sea with military capabilities and the plan is to organize more exercises,” Stoltenberg said. , which also highlighted the enhanced cooperation with private players such as the Norwegian energy giant Equinor.

After the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2, NATO and the EU also decided to set up a joint task force to identify the main threats and address weaknesses in the security of the infrastructure. The task force met for the first time on Thursday.