On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the investors of two Russian natural gas pipeline projects are at risk in facing US sanctions as the Trump administration is working to cut Russia’s economic leverage over Europe and Turkey.
Pompeo said that European investors in the Nord Stream 2 and a branch of the Turkstream pipelines could risk themselves US sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017
“It is a clear warning to companies aiding and abetting Russia’s malign influence projects will not be tolerated. Get out now, or risk, the consequences,” he said.
Last month, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a sanctions bill on Nord Stream 2 which would add to the current sanctions to include penalties on parties providing underwriting services, insurance or reinsurance, and pipe-laying activities.
Germany is opposing the sanctions. For Germany, the gas pipeline would help to ease its effort to get rid of coal and nuclear power, while for Ukraine, it would eliminate hefty transit fees.
The Nord Stream projects are part of two Russian pipelines supplying gas to Europe and Turkey. Nord Stream 2 aims to double the Nord Stream’s existing capacity and would supply 55 bcm/year of gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea via Ukraine.
At the moment, the projects might need to finish the remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the project. The project is led by Russian state-owned Gazprom, who financed half of the project worth around EUR9.5 billion (USD10.5 billion).
However, Nord Stream 2 has been suspended since December 2019 after a subsea construction specialist, Swiss-Dutch company Allseas bowed out after the US signed a defense policy bill that contained other sanctions on the project.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the US movement is showing an unfair competition. Gazprom did not comment on the issue.
On a side note, the US is eyeing the Europe market to supply its glut of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
