Berlin (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – NATO plans to build a pipeline system from Germany to Poland and the Czech Republic in order to provide a rapid supply of jet fuel for fighter jets in the possibility of a fight with Russia, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.
Currently, the Cold War-era pipeline system of the military alliance concludes in western Germany. Der Spiegel mentioned an internal memo from the Bundeswehr – Germany’s armed forces – saying that there are “significant problems in the sustainable fuel supply for forces that would need to be deployed to the eastern border in case of emergency.”
Separately, according to a briefing document for the senior leadership of the German defence ministry, internal debates among NATO partners have revealed that pipeline systems are
the backbone of NATO’s fuel supply,
Der Spiegel noted.
In total, the project is expected to cost 21 billion euros ($22 billion), with the pipeline scheduled to be largely completed by 2035, says Der Spiegel.
How does Poland support NATO’s pipeline expansion?
Earlier in 2023, Poland President Andrzej Duda stated that it wanted NATO to discuss extending its Cold War-era oil pipeline system further east.
We will certainly raise the issue of the expansion of fuel supply pipelines, NATO pipelines. Today they end in Germany because they are the remnants of what was built during the Cold War,
Duda briefed journalists.
We would like, after more than 20 years of our presence in NATO, for the alliance to finally decide that it will finance, that NATO countries will finance their expansion, so that they reach NATO’s eastern flank.
NATO’s Central Europe Pipeline System (CEPS) is a network of high-pressure pipelines that hauls jet fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel, and naphtha throughout Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
