An alleged attack on the electricity supply to the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL) in Italy at the end of March reportedly endangered the supply of gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. According to “Welt am Sonntag” and “Business Insider”, the raw oil supply to the major German refinery Miro in Karlsruhe was cut off for several days.
A spokesperson for Miro confirmed that they did not receive any raw oil through the TAL pipeline for three days, lasting until approximately 2 am on March 30, and that they had operated solely using their existing raw oil reserves. The Bayernoil refinery also struggled with the supply failure. Facilities in Neustadt and Vohburg in Bavaria were also forced to survive the supply interruption for three days using local warehouse stocks.
The newspapers reported that the cause of the pipeline outage was an attack on the power supply at a pump station near Terzo di Tolmezzo in the Italian Alps. Two independent sources confirmed to “Welt am Sonntag” and “Business Insider” that the pipeline failure was an act of sabotage. German authorities were informed of the incident by Italian counterparts.
A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is in contact with the Italian authorities regarding the incident. The Interior Ministry noted that whether this was a politically motivated attack on critical infrastructure is “subject to further investigation by the Italian authorities”.
The Miro refinery spokesperson stated that all products remained “fully available” during the pipeline outage, and there were no restrictions on gas station supplies. However, it remained unclear for how long the refinery could continue supplying from its local tank storage. Miro is now in the process of gradually rebuilding its raw oil reserves following the repair of the pumping station. According to Miro, the facility supplies ten million people daily with fuels and heating oil, in addition to providing district heating to thousands of households in Karlsruhe. Statistically, Miro’s products cover about 45 percent of the total primary energy demand in Baden-Württemberg.