INTERVIEW: NATO official warns Europe must do more to face growing energy risks

European governments and companies need to boost cooperation and preparedness to safeguard energy systems against a growing slate of increasingly urgent risks, a top NATO official told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, in an interview on Oct. 29.

"Unfortunately, whether they like it or not, energy infrastructure operators are in the defense business now," James Appathurai, NATO's deputy assistant secretary general for cyber, hybrid and digital transformation, as well as one of the officials in charge of the alliance's energy security strategy, said.

The blunt assessment comes amid a spate of recent high-profile incidents that have underscored the continent's vulnerability to hybrid attacks.

Germany said Russia was behind an explosive-laden drone discovered at the Leipzig airport in the country's east that officials defused and destroyed in August. That same month, Romania's military destroyed a naval drone near OMV Petrom's Neptun Deep gas development in the Black Sea; Romania's President, Nicușor Dan, also blamed Moscow.

"There should be no doubt: energy infrastructure is targeted by the Russians," Appathurai said. "As the security environment gets worse -- and unfortunately that's the direction of travel -- we can expect energy infrastructure to be even more targeted."

These threats take a variety of forms, including physical sabotage and cyber attacks -- the latter of which have increased "very much" in the past 2-3 years, Appathurai said.

Government shortfalls

NATO has heightened its focus on energy security as risks mount and governments grapple with the energy demands of Europe's substantial push to rearm in a more geopolitically fraught era with less US backing. In 2025, NATO governments pledged to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, up from an earlier 2% commitment.

Appathurai, however, voiced some concerns over governments' efforts to adapt to an increasingly hostile world, with energy both in demand and in the crosshairs.

While NATO countries have gotten better about working with energy companies to improve security, governments, he argued, can do better by looping in energy and interior ministers for intergovernmental discussions on international threats.

"I, for example, am not convinced that all NATO energy ministers are as fully aware as they should be -- not only on the international threats to their infrastructure but also what the future NATO fuel and electricity requirements will be and are building in those requirements to national planning," he said.

On molecules, Appathurai underscored NATO countries are boosting purchases of military equipment that will require liquid fuels "for decades," just as European refining and distribution capacity diminishes amid long-running economic pressures.

The consequence is a greater reliance on imports, which creates vulnerabilities in an energy-hungry military operation.

Russia, by contrast, is "a gigantic petrol station," Appathurai said. "It doesn't have to import anything. So there is an imbalance of vulnerability here when it comes to energy."

Platts assessed CIF Northwest European jet fuel cargoes at $1,539.75/metric ton on Oct. 29, up from $831.25/mt just before the outbreak of the Iran war in late February.

On electrons, similarly, he said grid operators have not been adequately accounting for NATO fleets' growing reliance on electricity for equipment such as battery-powered drones.

"They need to be made more aware of what NATO military requirements are so that when we show up in a day with 20,000 troops that are increasingly electrified and plug in, the grid can handle us," he said.

Critical energy infrastructure network

Even as much of the work firming up energy security falls to governments, energy companies are also key, Appathurai stressed.

NATO plans to roll out a critical energy infrastructure network in the coming months to support businesses with threat warnings, data sharing, exercises, best practices, and even hardware, Appathurai explained.

"We might be able to aggregate demand," he said. "We have a marketplace to marry companies that need counter-drone equipment with companies that make counter-drone equipment."

The alliance could also, if needed, deploy military assets, Appathurai explained.

The network would be based on a similar system that already supports critical undersea infrastructure.

'Prepare to be necessary'

The deputy assistant secretary general's core message to energy companies was both a warning and a call-out: "Prepare to be targeted and prepare to be very necessary."

Appathurai agreed that sprawling energy businesses cannot protect all their equipment all the time. However, he highlighted several lessons from Ukraine's experience weathering years of relentless Russian attacks on its energy system. These include being able to operate equipment without an internet connection, assessing beforehand which systems to prioritize preserving in a crisis, developing repair capabilities, and stockpiling spare parts.

He also urged all companies to run advanced AI models on their cyber networks to find and patch vulnerabilities and then keep AI running on their networks to secure against frontier model risks.

"These models are going to shred cyber defenses if people don't take the steps necessary to secure them," he stressed. "That's not something that can wait -- it has to be done now."

The growing threats to energy assets and the widespread cooperation required between public and private players to address them portend a shift away from an era of energy trade largely dictated by market forces, Appathurai assessed.

Energy companies "are targeted, they are necessary, and so we just need a much closer relationship with them, and that can include, of course, the relationships with their governments, which go beyond simple market forces," he said.

"The real world is getting real," Appathurai added. "We cannot afford to continue doing things exactly the way we did before."