Energy sector under threat – Austrian secret service warns of terrorist drones

The attack with 500 kilos of TNT explosives on the pipes of the Nord Stream pipeline, which brought gas from Russia to Europe, also caused a shock wave at energy companies three months ago. The sabotage commando operation is said to have been carried out by combat divers at a depth of about 70 meters on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The tubes were completely destroyed over a length of 250 meters, with escaping gas bubbling to the surface of the water for days, producing spectacular images. To this day, the perpetrators are unknown, the EU accuses Moscow, the Kremlin another foreign intelligence agency.

While Putin has been systematically destroying Ukraine’s electricity and gas supplies for weeks with drone and missile attacks, the secret services are now apparently increasingly reporting possible assassination plans on European soil. The Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) is currently warning of a threat in an internal letter to domestic companies.

“Espionage Attempts Against Critical Infrastructure”
It literally reads in cool espionage German: “Due to the continued accumulation of information available to us, it can be assumed that critical infrastructure facilities – especially in the energy sector – are currently potentially affected by espionage attempts by both state and non-state actors.”

The red-white-red secret service assumes not only espionage through “unauthorized physical attempts to gain access to security-relevant areas”, but also “aerial reconnaissance of outdoor facilities”. This refers to the use of notorious “terrorist drones”, which Russia is currently deploying en masse, not only on the battlefield, but also against civilian targets.

According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the current geopolitical situation would indicate that these espionage campaigns “are intended to serve as a preparatory act for affecting vital infrastructure in general, but especially the energy supply of the company site and / or larger parts of the population”. In particular, possible plans of attack by a foreign intelligence service on our electricity and gas grid. A successful assassination would of course be a real disaster scenario for all security authorities in winter…

After the German Interior Minister, Faeser, warned of attacks or acts of sabotage at gas terminals, security measures were also increased in Germany, for example at the German natural gas hub in Baumgarten in Lower Austria or at OMV. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) recently emphasized in a “Krone” interview when asked if we were prepared for attacks on our energy infrastructure: “We are doing everything humanly possible to prevent such things. There is a latent challenge.”

Energy giant had been paralyzed for months
What happens when the domestic energy giant is hit was revealed – as reported – by a “mechanical incident” in June at the main distillation plant of the OMV refinery just outside Vienna. For months, many gas stations across the country were running out of diesel. The repairs lasted until mid-October. The government had to release a total of 373,000 tons (!) of fuel from the strategic oil reserves of the Republic three times. Even then, the DSN initially investigated possible sabotage by a “foreign power”.