Protecting Offshore Energy Infrastructure: Legal Foundations for Regulatory Approaches in the EU

The need to protect offshore energy infrastructure in the EU is obvious, especially following the high-profile sabotage of the Nord Stream Pipeline in September 2022. The new directive on Resilience of Critical Entities passed into law shortly after, in December 20222 and the time is surely ripe to consider whether the regulatory approach envisaged by that directive is sufficient given that the targeting of critical infrastructure in the context of war appears no longer to be a hypothetical, but now an actual problem.

The initial focus of this chapter is accordingly on the obligations of Member States in the context of the new directive. What is it that they must do having transposed it into national law? How do those obligations differ from those imposed by its predecessor, the Critical Infrastructure Directive 2008?

That relatively straightforward task complete, the focus shifts to the extent to which the new directive applies to (and thus hopefully protects) offshore energy infrastructure. This question should be examined from two perspectives. First, to what extent does the directive apply to offshore energy infrastructure? Second, to what extent does it apply to offshore energy infrastructure? The first perspective yields reassuring results, though the coverage of relevant infrastructure is perhaps not as comprehensive as might be hoped. The second perspective, however, gives rise to deeper concerns. In short, the wording of the directive does not offer reassurance that infrastructure that is not only critical but also highly vulnerable due to its location offshore is clearly within its ambit.