Nord Stream 2 No Longer Easily Stopped, EU Budget Chief Says
1/2/2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline is no reason to stop the project and any attempt to do so would be difficult now that it is being built, European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.
Trump has attacked Berlin for supporting the $11 billion gas pipeline spanning the Baltic Sea, accusing Germany in July of being a “captive” of Russia due to its reliance on Russian energy.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said last month that Washington retained the option of imposing sanctions on companies working on the pipeline, which would bring Russian gas directly to Germany.
Berlin and Moscow have been at odds since Russia annexed Crimea four years ago, but they have a common interest in the Nord Stream 2 project, which will double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 route from next year.
“I was never a great supporter of Nord Stream 2,” Oettinger, the EU’s budget commissioner, told German magazine Der Spiegel. “But the truth is the pipeline has long been under construction and can no longer so easily be stopped.”
He added: “Trump’s threats are no reason for that.”
Germany refuses to join opposition to the project from many EU states and – thus far – from the EU executive, describing it as a private enterprise.
Washington is concerned that the pipeline, which will bypass Ukraine by running under the Baltic Sea, will strip Ukraine of important transit revenue and says Moscow is using the project to divide Europe.
Ukraine derives up to 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) from transit charges.
Oettinger, a German, pressed Russian gas giant Gazprom, which is leading the project, to agree “a fair deal on the further use of the existing pipelines through Ukraine.”
Gazprom is the sole shareholder in Nord Stream 2, shouldering half of the $10.89 billion (9.5 billion euro) construction cost. Gazprom’s European partners are Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Engie and Austria’s OMV.
Related News
Related News
Sign up to Receive Our Newsletter
- Williams' $1 Billion Gas Pipeline Blocked by U.S. Appeals Court, Derailing Five-State Project
- Texas Waha Hub Gas Prices Plunge to Record Lows, Hit Negative Territory
- Williams Begins Louisiana Pipeline Construction Despite Ongoing Legal Dispute with Energy Transfer
- U.S. Buys Nearly 5 Million Barrels of Oil for Emergency Stockpile
- U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down Controversial Biden Pipeline Safety Rules
- Report: Houston Region Poised to Become a Global Clean Hydrogen Hub
- Exxon Mobil to Start Gas Reserve Seismic Surveys in Greece
- LaPorte, Texas, Issues Shelter in Place After Altivia Plant Leaks Toxic Gas
- Texas Startup Endeavors Again to Build First Major U.S. Oil Refinery Since 1977
- Second Gas Pipeline Rupture in Texas’ Reeves County Raises Environmental Concerns
Pipeline Project Spotlight
Owner:
East African Crude Oil Pipeline Company
Project:
East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP)
Type:
TotalEnergies in discussions with a Chinese company after Russian supplier Chelpipe was hit by sanctions.
Length:
902 miles (1,443 km)
Capacity:
200,000 b/d
Start:
2022
Completion:
2025
Comments