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Norwegian Police Investigate Suspicious Drone Activity Near Offshore Gas Field
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Norwegian police are investigating a reported drone sighting near Equinor’s Sleipner field in the North Sea. According to VG on September 30, the alert came from facility workers who spotted the suspicious aerial object on Monday evening.
“Tonight we received a report that a drone had been observed. It was noticed by employees,” said Roger Litlatun, head of the police operations service.
He confirmed that police registered the incident, initiated internal notifications, and are working with intelligence data to determine what exactly occurred. Litlatun added that this was something the police intended to investigate further, noting that given the current situation, it was natural to focus on it.
Equinor spokesperson Magnus Frantzen Eidsvoll declined to provide details on individual sightings, referring inquiries to the police.
According to VG, the Sleipner field includes the Sleipner East and Sleipner West gas condensate fields, as well as the Loke, Gungne, and Alpha North satellite fields. Located in the North Sea west of Egersund, the fields have been operational since 1984.
In 2022, Norwegian police deployed drone detection sensors to monitor possible aerial activity near offshore oil and gas facilities on the country’s continental shelf.
This is not the first time authorities in the regionn have faced drone-related security concerns. On the evening of September 22, authorities in Norway reported major drone incident in Oslo.
Norwegian police later confirmed they had detained two Singaporean citizens in connection with the incident. The two foreign nationals were operating a drone over Akershus Fortress in Oslo, which houses the headquarters of the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia is exploiting maritime routes to facilitate such attacks. Citing intelligence data, he said Moscow is using tankers, including vessels from its so-called “shadow fleet,” to launch and control drones aimed at European countries.
“It is particularly important that sanctions strike painfully at Russia’s energy trade, at the entire infrastructure of its tanker fleet,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address on September 28. “Intelligence reports indicate that Russian tankers are being used to launch and operate drones against European countries. This is further proof that the Baltic Sea and other seas must be closed to Russian tankers—at least to the shadow fleet.”
Earlier, Ukrainian military specialists arrived in Denmark to share their expertise in countering unmanned aerial vehicles.
The training program, titled “Wings of Defense,” is a joint exercise between Ukrainian and Danish forces that focuses on countering strike drones. The deployment of Ukrainian experts is meant to bolster Denmark’s defenses following a series of recent drone incidents in its airspace, including activity that disrupted airports and raised security concerns.
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