FRANKFURT, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Concerns about attacks on energy infrastructure should not dominate operators’ business, the head of Germany’s industry association for oil and gas production said on Wednesday, after two gas pipelines Russian routes to Europe have been hit by explosions this week.
Several European Union states have said leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea, which compromise the continent’s energy security, were likely the result of sabotage.
Giving in to fears of attacks on infrastructure could cripple many industrial sectors, said Ludwig Moehring, head of the BVEG association, at the two-day Handelsblatt gas summit.
Join now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
“If we do (this) the measurement of economic activity in Germany, I can think of a lot of companies where I would say, oh people, then better give up right away,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s the basis of what we do,” he added.
Amid little comment so far on the events from German industry executives, Moehring also said the alleged attacks did not raise an additional question mark over oil and gas production.
BVEG brings together 78 companies involved in producing what remains of Germany’s oil and gas reserves, including Neptune Energy, Vermilion Energy, Wintershall Dea (WINT.UL)(BASFn.DE) and BEB, a joint venture of ExxonMobil (XOM .N) and Shell .
The companies earned 1.9 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in revenue from their German operations in 2021 and employed 7,669 people. Read more
At the same event, an executive from the German division of Dutch gas pipeline network company Gasunie said he believed the Nord Stream leaks could be fixed.
“There are good teams in place to deal with pipeline accidents, there are emergency pipeline inventories and experts for onshore and offshore,” said Jens Schumann, managing director of Gasunie Deutschland.
“It makes me relatively optimistic that even a ruction like the one we saw there can be fixed.”
($1 = 1.0470 euros)
Join now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Vera Eckert and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Mark Potter and Jane Merriman
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.