BRUSSELS — NATO countries finalized a €27 billion deal to overhaul the alliance’s military fuel transport system, the organization announced Wednesday.
“The 27-billion-euro investment will modernise NATO’s existing fuel storage and distribution infrastructure,” the alliance said in a statement. “It will support new facilities, including pipelines, in the eastern and south-eastern part of the Alliance and ensure NATO forces have the energy supplies they need for warfighting readiness.”
NATO’s 32 ambassadors signed off on the deal, part of its effort to prepare for a potential war with Russia, during their last regular meeting ahead of the summer break, two NATO diplomats said, after Turkey dropped its last-minute bid to hold up the compromise. Both diplomats were granted anonymity to speak freely about the classified talks.
The military alliance also agreed to raise its common funding budget to “up to EUR 6.5 billion” for next year, and signed off on its investment priorities for the next five years. For 2026, allies had agreed on a budget of €5.3 billion.
Countries have held negotiations for months on the revamp of the alliance’s 10,000-kilometer Cold War-era pipeline network, which is designed to connect NATO’s existing system in Western Europe to newer alliance member countries in the east and north.
The project, touted as NATO’s largest-ever and most expensive commonly funded scheme, could take up to 30 years to complete and covers dozens of projects, ranging from pipeline upgrades to energy storage sites.
“A stronger NATO is in the pipeline,” said one of the diplomats.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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