NATO Eastern Flank Seeks Extension of Critical Cold War Pipelines

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(Bloomberg) — Eastern European countries are making a renewed push to extend NATO’s network of Cold War-era underground fuel pipelines in case of a military conflict, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Countries including Poland and Romania have long argued that they should have access to the NATO Pipeline System that supplies Western forces during combat and currently goes no further then Germany to the east.

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The initiative to expand the 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) network has gained fresh urgency ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s summit in Ankara in July, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

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With the war in Iran, some states also fear they may become more exposed to potential fuel shortages if the current conflict escalates, one of the people said.

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The extensive network that combines storage and distribution systems currently covers 12 NATO countries — linking military air bases, civil airports, depots as well as pumping stations, refineries and truck- and rail-loading stations, according to NATO. It’s designed to meet sudden increases in fuel demand, particularly for airlift and air-to-air refueling.

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The situation shows how more than a quarter century after the first wave of the post-Cold War expansion, NATO continues to rely on a fragmented system for essential supplies that could become critical in case of a sudden outbreak of hostilities.

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The urgency to address the issue is growing with no end in sight for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has just entered its fifth year. Some Western intelligence services have warned that Moscow may attack NATO next even as President Vladimir Putin repeatedly dismissed such a scenario as “complete nonsense.”

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Allies are committed to providing secure and resilient energy supplies, including fuel, to military forces to ensure that the alliance’s collective deterrence and defence posture remains strong, a NATO official said.

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They are also working to improve the fuel supply chain, which includes fuel pipelines, the official said, declining to go into operational details of the plan.

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The NPS is financed in part through the alliance’s common budget, as well as by giving spare capacity for commercial use. Farther to the east, the alliance relies on individual countries’ networks. They aren’t funded by NATO, which is one of the reasons motivating the push.

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Building the infrastructure and connecting it to the existing system with its two separate central and north European strands will pose a number of organizational and financial challenges, according to a recent study by the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. 

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For starters, the project would require unanimous approval from NATO members, including from the US, the alliance’s biggest financial contributor.

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A previous analysis indicated that the entire expansion of the broader eastern-flank network could cost around €21 billion ($24.5 billion) and take as long as 25 years to build, one of the people said. 

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Currently the focus is on two pillars to make the concept more feasible with the aim to announce some new plans during the Ankara summit, the person said. 

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The expansion of the eastern strand known as Central Europe Pipeline System to Poland is estimated to cost €5.5 billion, while the other project that aims to link up Greece, Bulgaria and Romania could cost about €6 billion, the person said.

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