NATO Pipeline System

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This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.
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NATO Pipeline System is a set of oil pipelines built by NATO in the 1950's that starts from Turkiye, stretching across Greece, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, Norway, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The pipelines traverse 13 NATO countries, through eight national pipeline systems and two multinational systems: The national pipeline systems the Greek Pipeline System (GRPS); the Icelandic Pipeline System (ICPS); the Northern Italy Pipeline System (NIPS); the Norwegian Pipeline System (NOPS); the Portuguese Pipeline System (POPS); the Turkish Pipeline System (TUPS), which comprises two separate pipeline systems known as the Western Turkey Pipeline System and the Eastern Turkey Pipeline System.

The United Kingdom Government Pipeline and Storage System (UKGPSS), while once part of the system, has been reduced and privatized as the CLH Pipeline System (CLH-PS).

The two multinational pipeline systems are: the North European Pipeline System (NEPS) located in Denmark and Germany; the CEPS covering Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. This is the largest system.

Location

Due to the military importance of the pipelines, large parts of the route for the pipelines are unavailable to the public. The map only shows a detailed route for the Central European Pipeline System, North Italian Pipeline System and the South European System, with low accuracy routes available for the Northern and Portuguese Pipeline Systems.

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Project details (excepting CEPS, SEPS, PPS and NIPS):

  • Operator: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Owner: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Parent company: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Capacity:
  • Length:
    • Greek Pipeline System: 783 kilometers[1]
    • Norwegian Pipeline System: 99 kilometers[2]
    • North European Pipeline System: 650 km
    • Turkish Pipeline System: 3204 kilometers[3]
    • Icelandic Pipeline System: 30 kilometers*
  • Diameter:
  • Status: Operating
  • Start year: 1950's
  • Associated infrastructure: CLH Pipeline System (CLH-PS)


*The length is inferred from reports that the entire NATO Pipeline System is around 11,000 kilometers in length, and that all other pipeline systems not including the Icelandic Pipeline System sum to 10,970 kilometers. This leaves about 30 kilometers leftover for Iceland's national system.

Project details (PPS):

Location:

The system includes a pair of pipelines in northern and central Portugal. The northern pipeline, located in the Porto metropolitan area, runs south from the port of Leixões to the military airport at Ovar on Portugal's Atlantic coast.[4] The southern pipeline, located in the Lisbon metropolitan area, runs east from the port of Trafaria to the Almada naval base to the Montijo air base.[5]

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  • Operator: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Owner: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Parent: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Capacity:
  • Length: 123 kilometers[6]
  • Status: Idle
  • Start year:

Background

In 2016, Portugal's national energy regulator ENMC (since renamed ENSE) agreed to pay €1.1 million annually to the Portuguese Navy and National Defense Agency for rights to use and develop the Lisbon section of the Portuguese Pipeline System, together with its associated port and storage facilities in Trafaria, over a 25-year period. ENMC reportedly planned to invest €20 million to rehabilitate the pipeline, which had fallen into disuse, as a means of supplying Lisbon's planned new international airport in Montijo. A potential future expansion proposed by ENMC would extend the pipeline north to Lisbon's Portela airport[7], which is the largest airport in Europe not currently served by a pipeline.[8]

Truckers' strikes in 2019 disrupted fuel supplies to the Portela airport, prompting renewed interest in an airport pipeline, with rehabilitation of the NATO pipeline discussed as a possible solution.[9]

A July 2019 environmental impact report for the new Montijo airport, which is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2022, listed the NATO pipeline as one possible fuel source, but noted that the pipeline remained non-operational.[10] Press reports at the time indicated that the new airport would more likely receive fuel via tanker truck.[11]

As of 2020, alternative methods of supplying fuel to the Montijo and Portela airports were gaining traction, including a possible new link to the nearby Barreiro Liquid Fuel Terminal or a southward extension of the existing 147-kilometer Sines - Aveiras de Cima oil pipeline operated by CLC.[12]

Project details (NIPS):

Location

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  • Operator: North Atlantic Treaty Organization[13]
  • Owner: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Parent: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Current capacity:
  • Length: 797 km[14] (also reported at 900 kilometers)[15]
  • Status: Operating
  • Start Year: 1950s

Background

Italian press reports in 2019 indicated that two of the pipeline's three underwater segments in the Ligurian Sea near La Spezia were inoperative due to corrosion, while the third had required urgent repairs in 2014. The Italian Air Force has reportedly studied replacing the underwater section of pipeline with a new docking platform that would allow oil to travel above ground.[16]

Project details (CEPS):

Location

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  • Operator: North Atlantic Treaty Organization[13]
  • Owner: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Parent: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Current capacity:
  • Length: 5,314 km / 3,302 mi[17]
  • Status: Operating
  • Start Year: 1950s

Background

The pipeline system was founded in the late 1950s by NATO being funded as part of the NATO Common Infrastructure Program, with the various participating countries already having some of the infrastructure and capabilities required to operate such a system. The main feeder routes are as follows: Marseilles–Lyon–Langres–Nancy–Zweibrücken, Amsterdam–Liège–Trier-Karlsruhe, and Le Havre/Dunkirk–Cambrai–Aachen/Reims–Belfort

In the 1980s, the pipeline was attacked several times by terrorist organizations. The Belgian communist terrorist organisation Communist Combatant Cells carried out five bombings against the pipeline on 11 December 1984, and one more attack on 6 December 1985. Earlier that year, in April 1985, a bomb attack was carried out against a part of the pipeline in Southern-Germany by Red Army Faction sympathisers.[18]

At the end of the Cold War the system was significantly reduced as various military airports that used the system were closed, such as Bitburg Air Base and Soesterberg Air Base. However, in some other places expansion of the pipeline continued and in October 2008 construction of 80 kilometres (50 mi) of additional pipeline was completed between Aalen and Leipheim.[19]

Since 1959, excess capacity of the pipeline may be used by civilian users. Currently, around 90% of the fuel transported through the system is for civilian users, customers including various large European airports such as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Brussels Airport, Frankfurt am Main Airport, Luxembourg Airport, Cologne Bonn Airport and Zürich Airport.

The operating company for German territory is Fernleitungsbetriebsgesellschaft GmbH (FBG) headquartered in Bad Godesberg and established in 1956. FBG is a parent of Industrieverwaltungsgesellschaft (IVG). In war times, it is operated by the armed forces of the NATO countries where the part of the pipeline is located.

Project details (SEPS):

Location

The pipeline runs from Fos-sur-Mer in southern France to the MIRO refinery in Karlsruhe, Germany, traveling north through France's Rhône Valley via Valence, the Feyzin refinery, and the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier storage depot near Lyon, then northeast to the Gennes storage depot near Besançon. From Gennes, a branch pipeline heads east off the main line into Switzerland, terminating at the Cressier refinery near Neuchâtel.[20][21]

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  • Operator: Société du pipeline sud-européen
  • Owner: Société du pipeline sud-européen
  • Owner: TotalEnergies SE (35.14%); ExxonMobil (22%); Société de Participations dans l'Industrie et le Transport du Pétrole (15.74%); BP (12.1%); Shell (13.02%); Phillips 66 (2%)
  • Current capacity: 450,000 barrels per day
  • Length: 1,831 kilometers
  • Status: Operating
  • Start Year: 1962[22]

Background

The main 769 km-long, 34-in pipeline starts in Fos-sur-Mer (Lavera) on the Mediterranean Sea and runs north-northeast through France to Karlsruhe, Germany.[23][24] It became operational in 1962–1963[25] and cost about US$120 million to build.[26] The section of the pipeline north of Gennes, France is no longer operational.[27]

Two additional parallel sections of pipeline became operational in 1971–1972: a 714-km long, 40-in pipeline running from Fos-sur-Mer to Strasbourg (Oberhoffen-sur-Moder); and a 260-km-long, 24-in pipeline running from Fos-sur-Mer to Lyon (Feyzin). These latter two pipelines are no longer active.[23][24]

The pipeline's other active section is an 88-kilometer branch pipeline known as the Oléoduc du Jura Neuchâtelois, which leaves the main pipeline at Gennes, France and continues east to the Cressier refinery near Neuchâtel, Switzerland.[28]

The system includes 12 pumping stations. The system's maximum capacity is 35 million metric tons per year, although the annual capacity actually used is approximately 23 million metric tons per year.[29][30]

Articles and resources

References

  1. ↑ "The NATO Pipeline System: a forgotten defence asset" (PDF). JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ "The NATO Pipeline System: a forgotten defence asset" (PDF). JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "The NATO Pipeline System: a forgotten defence asset" (PDF). JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ "Aeródromo Militar de Ovar". Wikipedia. Retrieved October 1, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ "Infra-estruturas da NATO vão levar combustível aos aeroportos do Montijo e de Lisboa". Jornal de Negócios. April 5, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ "The NATO Pipeline System: a forgotten defence asset" (PDF). JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ "Infra-estruturas da NATO vão levar combustível aos aeroportos do Montijo e de Lisboa". Jornal de Negócios. April 5, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ "Portugal só tem 200 kms de oleodutos". Semanario SOL. August 26, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ "Oleoduto para Lisboa custa €10 milhões mas está na gaveta há cinco anos". Jornal Expresso. April 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "ESTUDO DE IMPACTE AMBIENTAL AEROPORTO DO MONTIJO E RESPETIVAS ACESSIBILIDADES" (PDF). PROFICO AMBIENTE E ORDENAMENTO, LDA. July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ "Combustíveis: Novo aeroporto do Montijo vai ser abastecido por 20 camiões por dia". O Jornal Económico. July 29, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "Aeroporto do Montijo avança. Segue-se a batalha nos tribunais - DN". Diário de Noticias. January 22, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 NATO. "Central Europe Pipeline System (CEPS)". NATO. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  14. ↑ "The NATO Pipeline System: a forgotten defence asset" (PDF). JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Outsourcing e riorganizzazione del servizio Petroleum Oil Lubricants (p. 17)" (PDF). Centro Militare di Studi Strategici, Politecnico di Torino. December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ "L'oleodotto Nato fa acqua: scatta l'allerta". Brescia Oggi. January 8, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ NSPA. "NSPA | Central Europe Pipeline System". www.nspa.nato.int. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  18. ↑ Europe's Red Terrorists.
  19. ↑ Silke Brand-Schoder (08/08/12). "NATO pipeline finally complete after 30 years". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2/10/23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "About us – Our network – Management - Shareholders". SPSE (Société du Pipeline Sud Européen). Retrieved 2020-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ↑ "SPSE Network". SPSE. Retrieved October 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ↑ "About us – Our network – Management - Shareholders". SPSE (Société du Pipeline Sud Européen). Retrieved 2020-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Oléoduc sud-européen". Wikipedia. Retrieved October 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Masseron, Jean (1990). Petroleum economics (4 ed.). Editions TECHNIP. p. 219. ISBN 978-2-7108-0597-7.
  25. ↑ Beltran, Alan (2010). A Comparative History of National Oil Companies. Peter Lang. p. 33. ISBN 978-90-5201-575-0.
  26. ↑ "South European Pipeline nears service". ACS. Retrieved 2022-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ↑ "About us – Our network – Management - Shareholders". SPSE (Société du Pipeline Sud Européen). Retrieved 2020-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ↑ "Oléoduc du Jura Neuchâtelois: Installations techniques". SFPLJ - OJNSA. Retrieved 2020-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ↑ "A European Dimension. The South European Pipeline". SPSE. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  30. ↑ IEA (2007). Oil supply security: emergency response of IEA countries 2007. OECD. p. 127. ISBN 978-92-64-04003-8.
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