The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, led by Russian state energy company Gazprom and aimed at doubling the existing pipeline’s capacity, is more than 90% complete. Russia says the project to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe via Germany will begin operating next year.
But President Donald Trump’s administration, which is eager to offer Europe U.S. shipments of gas, and many U.S. lawmakers oppose the pipeline. They say the project, which would bypass Ukraine, depriving it of lucrative transit fees, would boost Moscow’s economic and political leverage over Europe.
The sanctions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) target any companies and individuals providing help to the project, including upgrading of a ship needed to lay the pipeline, verification of equipment used to lay the pipeline, and insurance. Read more…..
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Billions of euros have been plunged into laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline deep under the Baltic Sea. However, a US threat to expand sanctions has put the German-Russian project at risk. Expanded sanctions proposed by US senators are causing more uncertainty. German officials are worried they personally could get caught up in them. With the Baltic states and Poland also voicing their objections, the gasline risks being dead in the water.
