Nord Stream

• Medvedev claimed such rights against the background of recent media reports on the mysterious sabotage of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline last year.
• The question of who was behind the attacks on the pipelines in the Baltic Sea on September 26 2022, however, remains unresolved.
• But the speculation stretches from western special forces or Ukrainian groups being behind the attack to it being a well-orchestrated Russian operation.

Vulnerable undersea cables

• As we have shown in a report to the European parliament of last year, subsea cables are the backbone of the contemporary digital economy.
• According to SubTelForum’s Submarine Cable Almanac as of the beginning of 2023, there were 380 cables in Europe on the ocean floor, mostly the size of a garden hose.
• If Russia is serious about its threats to cut cables, the main economic cost would be for repair work.
• For instance, several important cables surface in the port of Marseilles – and the English channel and the Red Sea have a high density of cables.

What’s behind the threat?

• Probably, this is also a message to two security events happening in the coming days and weeks and meant to increase the feeling of vulnerability and uncertainty.
• At the end of May, Ireland commenced a national consultative forum on security – online and on four separate days at the end of June.
• Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, said the aim was to build public understanding and generate discussions on our foreign, security and defence policies.
• The particular focus would be on how Ireland wants to respond to the new security environment and whether to seek Nato membership.

• The film, which has been widely reported in the UK press this week, asserts that Russia is systematically mapping the vulnerabilities of maritime infrastructure in the North Sea.
• We have known for a long time that Russian forces are mapping maritime infrastructures, including wind farms, communication cables and pipelines.
• In 2013, I was taken on a Royal Navy vessel to the North Sea where part of its mission was to look out for Russian spy ships.

Nord Stream sabotage

• The sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September 2022, in which a core energy pipeline was destroyed in the Baltic Sea, raised significant concerns in the west about the damage a hostile power could do by destroying or disrupting this important energy or information infrastructure.
• The culprit behind the Nord Stream sabotage has not yet been identified.
• Read more:
  Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: how an attack could have been carried out and why Europe was defenceless

  Nato and the EU have rolled out ambitious plans for improving the resilience of maritime infrastructure.

Why the North Sea is so significant

• The gas and oil supplies of the North Sea are an important resource for the entire European energy market.
• The North Sea is hence vital to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and lower CO₂ emissions.
• But given what we now suspect about Russian intelligence and possible sabotage activities, the North Sea now needs to be seen as a vulnerable and critical strategic security space.
• A concerted act of sabotage, damaging underwater electricity cables, for instance, can do significant harm to energy markets.

Importance of rapid repair

• But as of now, these key repair capacities – such as specialised repair vessels and cable depots are severely limited in Europe.
• New models of how security policy and the industry can work together to develop strategic repair capacities are required.

• Due to idle days prior to the September delivery of the $140,000 per day re-contracted vessel, Q3 2022 fleet utilization was 95%.
• As of September 30, 2022, CoolCo had cash and cash equivalents of $94.8 million and total short and long-term debt of $657.4 million.
• Of these, EPS hold 26,790,545 shares, equivalent to approximately 49.9% of the Company, Golar holds 4,463,846 shares, equivalent to approximately 8.3% of the Company and the public holds 22,434,071 shares, equivalent to approximately 41.8% of the Company.
• The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.

• We, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), convened today with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• The G7 firmly condemn and unequivocally reject the illegal attempted annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in addition to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.
• In solidarity with Ukraine, the G7 Leaders welcome President Zelenskyy's readiness for a just peace.
• We will act in solidarity and close coordination to address the negative impact of Russia's aggression for global economic stability, including by continuing to cooperate to ensure energy security and affordability across the G7 and beyond.