The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed last week it put out a general advisory to all its field offices warning that Osama bin Laden has issued orders for U.S. natural gas supplies to be attacked in the event of the death or capture of himself or his Taliban leader, Mullah Omar. The FBI stressed it had no corroboration for the information and it could turn out to be unreliable.

The FBI offered no further explanation in its advisory to its field offices, but sources said there was concern for the natural gas production, storage and pipeline infrastructure. The warning on natural gas was similar to one issued several weeks ago that California bridges were potential terrorist targets.

This latest report came as U.S. and Northern Alliance forces were scoring a series of victories in Afghanistan, and closing in on the southern region of the country where bin Laden reportedly is in hiding.

Attorney General John Ashcroft responded to questions at a press conference last Monday that the FBI had received “an uncorroborated report of undetermined reliability about natural gas” about 10 days to two weeks ago. He said they had informed relevant industry and law enforcement organizations. This type of advisory is aimed at heightening security measures, the attorney general said, adding that he believed it had been successful in averting more terrorist attacks.

“We got the notice [on Nov. 20] from the FBI,” said Martin Edwards, director of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). The threat was to be carried out by the al-Qaeda network. Edwards stressed the advisory was “not an alert, and it is uncorroborated, so people shouldn’t panic about it.” There was no information given on the type of attack or facilities targeted. It was a general advisory. “I think the intelligence-gathering agencies even question the credibility of this information.”

Edwards said INGAA had relayed the information to its pipeline members. “We’ll continue to do what we’re already doing — improving security and monitoring at all sites — particularly those that are more visible, which would pose a more attractive target for an attack.”

Natural gas facilities, along with other energy installations, have increased security around their operations since the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Most large natural gas pipelines are buried at least four feet underground. There are several major hubs where multiple pipelines interconnect, which have 10 to 15 feet of the intersecting pipelines above ground, however. Also compressor stations are above ground and could be vulnerable, as are drilling, production and processing sites.

Meanwhile, the American Gas Association is hosting a Natural Gas Industry Security Summit in Washington, DC on Dec. 3-4, open only to its members (full or limited) to explore the question of industry security for the long term.

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