Exercise Granite Resolve will test how the offshore energy industry, police and other agencies deal with complex simulated security threats in the North Sea
The UK is set to undergo its own form of war games as te offshore energy sector will conduct a drill to test its response to simulated threats involving suspicious vessels, drones and cyber attacks. Prior to a conference happening in Aberdeen this week, “exercise Granite Resolve” will assess how the industry, police and other agencies handle a complex emergency scenario.
While the desktop exercise doesn’t identify the source of the potential threat, it follows after the UK and allies monitored Russian submarines lurking near vital undersea infrastructure in the High North.
The Defence Secretary has stated the activity was closely watched and cautioned Russia that any attempt to harm infrastructure would face “serious consequences”.
Offshore Energy UK’s (OEUK) Security and Resilience conference will occur on Wednesday, bringing together industry leaders, defence experts and Police Scotland to discuss protecting North Sea assets and its energy network.
Mark Wilson, OEUK’s energy operations director, stated the offshore industry has long maintained “robust” arrangements to handle dangers like fires and explosions at sea, but doesn’t want to become complacent about emerging threats.
He told the Press Association: “Responding to some of the evolving physical and cyber security threats, requires us to be on the front foot and be agile in our thought process.” Around 70 personnel from the offshore energy sector will participate in the desktop exercise, alongside officials from Police Scotland, the Department for Energy Security and other agencies.
The scenario will encompass both physical and cyber security threats, with initial signals originating from other jurisdictions in the North Sea such as Norway and Denmark.
Participants will be tasked with responding to vessel activity and drone activity “both subsea and airborne”.
Adding further complexity to the scenario, a group of activists will board unattended installations – creating a “cybersecurity threat”.
The precise motivations of these activists, including whether they are operating on behalf of a “state actor”, will not be immediately clear – injecting additional uncertainty into the situation.
Mr Wilson stated: “The idea being, we’re going to test this at multiple levels. We’ve got well-tested and well-proven structures to our response arrangements. We’ve got an offshore emergency response team, an onshore incident management team and an onshore crisis management team who look after strategic aspects.
“And we’re going to be testing the scenario through those three different teams using the individuals we’ve got.”
The conference is set to occur in Aberdeen on Wednesday.
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