NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited the "Troll A" gas platform in the North Sea today, Friday, to discuss supply security and infrastructure, highlighting Norway's importance for gas shipments since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The "Troll A" platform extracts gas from Norway's largest fields, and after the decline of Russian flows, Norway became the largest supplier of gas to the European Union last year.
Stoltenberg and von der Leyen held discussions with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal regarding ways to protect infrastructure and gas supplies to Europe. Von der Leyen noted from the "Troll A" platform that gas prices in Europe have fallen after the EU and its allies adopted joint measures to improve conditions, following a spike in prices last year due to Russia reducing supplies. She added, "At the moment we united our efforts to diversify supply sources away from Russia, gas prices fell."
For his part, Stoltenberg told reporters on the platform that Norway's energy infrastructure is vital but vulnerable due to its size, consisting of thousands of kilometers of pipelines as well as internet and electricity wires. He explained that "we cannot of course protect every meter of this infrastructure at all times." He added, "But what we are doing is we have intensified intelligence sharing, we have closer monitoring of the infrastructure. We have bolstered our presence with additional military capabilities." He went on to say, "The plan now is to conduct more exercises and be able to respond quickly if something happens."
Equinor, which operates the platform, stated that the Troll field alone provided 11.3% of the EU's gas consumption last year. The field accounts for a third of Norway's daily gas exports to Europe.
The European delegation's visit was conducted under security measures, with a German Navy ship, a Norwegian coast guard vessel, a Norwegian military helicopter, and an NATO aircraft patrolling while Stoltenberg was speaking. NATO has enhanced security at Norwegian oil facilities following the Nord Stream pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea on September 26.
