Federal Government travels to Oslo to attend meeting of the Norwegian-German Pipeline Commission

In the context of the Norwegian-German Pipeline Commission, experts from Norway and Germany met today to discuss how the security of the gas pipelines between Norway and Germany can be further improved and coordinated more closely.

State Secretary Patrick Graichen, who attended the meeting on behalf the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), said: “After the pipeline sabotage in the Baltic Sea in the autumn of 2022, we intend to further strengthen our already close cooperation with the aim to protect Norwegian infrastructure. To achieve this, close networking as well as efficient and trusting communication between the relevant ministries and authorities in Germany and Norway will be essential."

Hartmut Höppner, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport: “We are working with our Norwegian partners to increase the security of critical underwater infrastructure. This sends a clear message to all those seeking to harm Germany and Europe by destroying critical infrastructure that we are prepared and able to defend ourselves."

The basis of the close cooperation between Norway and Germany in the field of gas infrastructure is the Europipe Agreement from 1994, a bilateral agreement under international law on the transport of gas via a pipeline from the Norwegian continental shelf and other areas to the Federal Republic of Germany. The meeting of the Norwegian-German Pipeline Commission was announced by Federal Minister Robert Habeck during his trip to Norway in early January. Various ministries of the Federal Government are responsible for critical infrastructure security.