US asks EU to stop Nord Stream 2

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 05 Dec 2020 by Alex Teddy
On December 4 Washington DC asked EU countries to block the undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The US fears that Russia will have energy blackmail over Europe. Congress is mulling more sanctions to be passed in January.Work on the pipeline stopped 12 months ago. US sanctions on any entity helping build the pipeline proved effectual. Construction was due to resume on December 6.That the Trump Administration is still striving to halt Nord Stream 2 is significant. The incoming Biden Administration is likely to be even more hostile to the pipeline. The US has a vested interest in blocking the pipeline because it sells a lot of energy to the EU. The pipeline's price tag is USD 11 billion. It would lead to a 100% increase in Russian energy exports to Germany which is the EU's biggest economy.Gazprom owns the majority of Gazprom. Wintershall, Uniper, Engie, OMV and Shell also part own it. These EU companies are lobbying very hard for the pipeline to go ahead. In 2011, in the wake of the Fukushima Disaster, Germany decided to close all its nuclear power stations. That has left Germany with a major need to import energy. Restarting nuclear energy is politically unacceptable in Germany due to the strong environmental lobby. Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic republics are adamantly against Nord Stream 2. They fear that a Russian energy stranglehold on Western Europe will tilt Western policy towards Moscow. Presently Russian gas flows down pipelines across Ukraine to the EU. Ukraine earns transit fees. Ukraine's battered economy cannot afford to lose these fees. Even in the worst periods of the Ukrainian Conflict, Kyiv has permitted Russian gas to transit its territory.

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