BRICS prioritizes energy infrastructure security: AEC

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The BRICS group, comprised of emerging economies, always kept among its priorities the security and safety of its energy infrastructure assets, the head of the South Africa-based African Energy Chamber (AEC), Nj Ayuk, told the Russian news agency, Sputnik, on Wednesday.

"Security of gas and oil infrastructure has been a key priority for BRICS countries for a long time. You have to look at these pipelines because they generate the ability to have energy stability across BRICS nations," Ayuk told the Russian outlet.

BRICS is a group of five emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which is an alliance of growing influence in light of the shifting balance of power in the international arena.

On September 26, unprecedented damage to three pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 was discovered. Two explosions were observed by Swedish seismologists along the pipelines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of being behind the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines. He said it had already "practically begun to destroy shared European energy infrastructure," stressing that "it is obvious to all who is profiting from this."

During the Russian Energy Week in Moscow, he touched on the issue of the attacks in the Baltic Sea, saying the attacks on the infrastructure projected were acts of international terrorism.

"There is no doubt that this is an act of international terrorism, the purpose of which is to undermine the energy security of the entire continent," Putin stressed.

The senior executive of the African Energy Chamber, a South African nonprofit that liaisons between African governments and businesses, is in Moscow for the 5th Russian Energy Week as Russia aspires to enter into new markets in Africa, especially as Europe is phasing out exports to the continent in light of the Ukraine war. As the phase-out began, Russia increased fuel supplies to Africa and Asia, boosting its standing in the global energy market.

BRICS should bolster intel sharing

BRICS member states should improve their intelligence sharing to safeguard their energy infrastructure in the wake of the leaks affecting the Nord Stream pipelines in Europe, Ayuk added.

"This is something that can be a call for collaboration among BRICS nations to start looking at technologies and different ways of sharing information and intelligence on how to protect [energy infrastructure] because it is key for our energy security," he explained.

His statements also come over the aforementioned attacks on Nord Stream, which are still being investigated - without Russia.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said late Monday that Stockholm had no plans to allow Russia to participate in the ongoing probe into the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

This prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to say the situation with Sweden denying Russia access to the ongoing investigation into the explosions that shook Gazprom's Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea highlights the West's double standards.