MURMANSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2020) The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) said in a report on Thursday it obtained information suggesting that Russia and China, among other countries, had been collecting intelligence on Norway's petroleum sector.
"The PST believes that the Norwegian petroleum sector is exposed to intelligence activity. Foreign intelligence services have targeted state and private companies, university technological communities and research center, and Norwegian official agencies," the report said, specifying that "intelligence services of Russia, China and other countries" were purportedly behind the intelligence gathering.
According to the PST, the information pertaining to the Norwegian oil industry "might have a large-scale potential for military purposes, as well as be partially used in the development of renewable energy sources."
The PST has warned that foreign intelligence services might attempt to recruit employees of the Norwegian petroleum industry to provide target information.
Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Naringsliv said it had requested a reaction from the Russian embassy, which slammed the PST report "primitive propaganda," as quoted in the report.
"Rather than demonizing Russia, Norway might want to think about what it can do to promote cooperation," the Russian embassy was quoted as saying.
Norway discovered and began producing oil on its continental shelf in the 1970s. In 1985, the state's participation in petroleum production was reorganized, with half of activities left in the remit of state-owned producers and the other half providing Oslo with interest from the exploration by private companies under the so-called State's Direct Financial Interest facility.
As of 2019, the combined share of petroleum and gas in Norway's total exports equaled 47 percent, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
