Russian gas giant Gazprom
was due to finish production
on three major pipeline projects
this month:
-- Nord Stream 2,
-- Turkstream and
-- Power of Siberia
Power of Siberia is finished.
The Turkstream pipeline
should open next month.
Nord Stream 2
is behind schedule,
mainly because
of pressure from
the United States.
Opposition
to Nord Stream 2
in the US is
all about leveraging
influence in Ukraine,
to turn it into
a client state,
hostile to Russia,
sharing a border
with Russia.
If there’s no gas transit
contract, and there’s no
Nord Stream 2, then US
LNG suppliers can sell gas
there, and deprive Russia
of the revenues.
Also:
Russia's Gazprom
and Ukraine’s Naftogaz
are two natural gas
companies locked in
legal disputes for years.
Most disputes are over
costs incurred during
the previous (and expiring)
gas transit contract.
Ukraine has sued Gazprom
in courts, such as Sweden,
that rule not by contract law,
but through the lens
of social justice.
Naftogaz seized
Gazprom’s European assets,
Gazprom’s European assets,
escalating the conflict.
These policies were pursued
by former Ukrainian President,
and US State Department
asset Petro Poroshenko.
The EU had a choice:
Stay with the US,
or green light
Nord Stream 2.
Not being friendly
with President Trump,
the EU changed its
gas pipeline rules to force
Gazprom to ‘unbundle’
the pipeline from the gas
flowing through it.
Then EU chose
that Nord Stream 2
should be finished --
In October, Denmark
granted the final
environmental permit
environmental permit
for its construction.
That delay moves
the completion date
out into 2020.
Meanwhile, US Senate Foreign
Relations Committee head,
Jim Risch, wants anyone
assisting Gazprom to build
the pipeline to be sanctioned
and forced out of business.
But so little of the pipeline
is left to complete, that there's
no practical way to stop it .
Risch and other US senators
hoped to strand Nord Stream 2
as an unfinished boondoggle.
That won't happen.
The German government
wants the pipeline, and
needs the pipeline, so will
put up the funds to ensure
the contractors are paid
and the pipeline completed.
Once completed,
the United States
will have no ability
to sanction the gas
flowing through
the pipeline.
Serbia Hungary, Bulgaria
Italy and Greece currently
get their natural gas
Italy and Greece currently
get their natural gas
from Ukraine.
That's a potential risk
if nothing gets resolved
between Ukraine and
Russia, currently at war.
if nothing gets resolved
between Ukraine and
Russia, currently at war.
The US foreign policy
establishment uses Europe
as the battleground
in the war against Russia.
That's why natural gas
storage facilities in Europe
are kept full.
Europeans are tired of
all the fighting.
Wednesday's 2020
National Defense
Authorization Act
(NDAA)
included long-threatened
sanctions on Russia's
Nord Stream 2
underwater natural
gas pipeline.
The House bill
targets companies
assembling the pipeline,
a last ditch US effort
to block the 760-mile
project that would allow
Russia to export natural
gas directly to Germany,
depriving Ukraine of
badly needed gas
transit fees along
the current route
for Russian supplies.
The $10.5 billion
Nord Stream 2,
runs parallel to the
existing Nord Stream
pipeline.
It has been supported by
Gazprom and five European
energy companies.
It's expected to double
Russian gas shipments
to Germany, the EU's
biggest economy.
Washington fears
it will give Moscow
significant geopolitical
leverage over Europe,
while also punishing
Ukraine.
Trump has charged
Germany with giving
"billions" of dollars
to Russia.
Earlier this year
a France-led effort
in the European Union
attempted to halt
the project, but was
not successful.
Berlin is charging
Washington with
"interference"
and meddling
in European
energy policy.
German Foreign Minister
Heiko Maas, told Bloomberg:
“European energy policy
must be decided in Europe,
not the U.S.” ...
“We fundamentally reject
outside intervention
and sanctions with
extraterritorial effect.”