Ukraine-Russia: Germany takes steps to halt Nord Stream 2

[blue-wave]

Source: ABC News

BERLIN -- Germany has taken steps to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday, as the West started taking punitive measures against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

Scholz told reporters in Berlin that his government was taking the measure in response to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.


The pipeline bringing natural gas from Russia to Germany has long been criticized by the United States and some European countries who argue that it increases Europe’s reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Scholz said that the government had decided to “reassess” the certification of the pipeline, which hasn’t begun operating yet, in light of the latest developments.

“That will certaintly take time, if I may say so,” he said.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/ukraine-russia-germany-takes-steps-halt-nord-stream-83038021

---

Short article, the above is the full.

[oldsoftie]

1. Good. It was a stupid idea to begin with. Don't buy from Russia.

And don't buy from China. Which is a LOT tougher to accomplish.

[gab13by13]

10. China is Ukraine's top trading partner, I believe,

or one of the top.

[Botany]

2. Putin had to know this was going to happen. I wonder if he has a plan B such as the gas going ...

... to China?

[marie999]

11. They now have a 30-year deal.

Russian company Gazprom will start building a second natural gas pipe.

[WHITT]

3. Blocking A Private-Sector Pipeline

1) Will be extremely expensive for Germany and likely the U.S.

2) Will not restrict the sale of Russian gas elsewhere.

Which makes it a toothless, symbolic move.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Lucrative for lawyers, though. Nt

[WHITT]

6. Always!

What a racket.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. That pipeline isn't actually in use yet but would have been a faster route to western Europe

when supplementing the older Nord Stream pipeline.



The move rescinds Merkel's earlier approval of operation (that would have then been pending Germany's energy regulator to do the final steps). Interesting article done last year from the famous "free markets" "The Economist" - https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/07/14/why-nord-stream-2-is-the-worlds-most-controversial-energy-project

[NJCher]

8. Sure, I'll bet he's thinking

1) Will be extremely expensive for Germany and likely the U.S.

2) Will not restrict the sale of Russian gas elsewhere.

Which makes it a toothless, symbolic move.


It’s so easy to line up new customers. And hey, I’d rather have a a hundred or so small buyers than a few big customers with guaranteed credit. You know, reliable, rich customers like Germany. Who needs ‘em?

Anyway, might as well line up some new customers because I don’t have anything better to do with my time.

Well, just fight a war is all. Won’t be sitting at any big tables, so plenty of time for the fun stuff.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. As #5 below says, it's owned by Gazprom, and the Russian govt is the majority shareholder in that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazprom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream

Whether they can export all the gas they want to via other methods depends on the capacity; for pipelines, it's not like oil tankers, for which you can just change the destination (they have some LNG tanker capacity, but it's not huge: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1262074/global-lng-export-capacity-by-country/

[WHITT]

13. Pipeline #2

actually owned by Gasprom, not Gazprom. Gasprom is a Swiss corporation with half a dozen shareholders.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Gazprom think they own it all

https://www.nord-stream2.com/company/shareholder-and-financial-investors/

[WHITT]

16. They Don't

It was originally named the 'North European Gas Pipeline Company'.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Your assertions against the reality are not impressive

Old names don't mean anything. The point is, Nord Stream 2 says it's owned by Gazprom; The NYT say Gazprom own it.

[WHITT]

25. They're Wrong

it's also owned by four European companies:


Wintershall Dea AG

PEG Infrastruktur AG (E.ON)

N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie

ENGIE

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. They're right:

Facing strong opposition, Nord Stream 2 has run into numerous obstacles that have delayed but
not stopped its construction. The start of the project goes back to 2011, just after the first Nord
Stream pipeline was inaugurated, when Gazprom and a group of major European energy companies
decided to look into the possibility of doubling the capacity of the new undersea route. In 2015,
Gazprom and five EU companies –Royal Dutch Shell, E.ON (subsequently replaced by Uniper after
the latter became a separate entity from E.ON), OMV, Wintershall and ENGIE – agreed to build the
pipeline. Initially, construction was planned as a joint venture, 50 % owned by Gazprom and the
remainder split between the five EU partners, each contributing according to their share to the total
capital of €9.5 billion.

Objections were already raised in 2016 by the leaders of eight EU countries warning of the
geopolitical and energy security risks, and by UOKiK, Poland's competition authority, on the grounds
that the new pipeline would increase Gazprom's dominance of the country's gas market. To avoid
the risk of a UOKiK fine, the five EU energy companies decided to participate in the project as lenders
rather than shareholders; thus, instead of being set up as a joint venture, Nord Stream 2 AG, the
company building the pipeline, is a fully owned subsidiary of Gazprom.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/690705/EPRS_BRI%282021%29690705_EN.pdf

[WHITT]

27. Thanks For Confirming My Point

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. In bold, for the hard of reading:

Facing strong opposition, Nord Stream 2 has run into numerous obstacles that have delayed but
not stopped its construction. The start of the project goes back to 2011, just after the first Nord
Stream pipeline was inaugurated, when Gazprom and a group of major European energy companies
decided to look into the possibility of doubling the capacity of the new undersea route. In 2015,
Gazprom and five EU companies –Royal Dutch Shell, E.ON (subsequently replaced by Uniper after
the latter became a separate entity from E.ON), OMV, Wintershall and ENGIE – agreed to build the
pipeline. Initially, construction was planned as a joint venture, 50 % owned by Gazprom and the
remainder split between the five EU partners, each contributing according to their share to the total
capital of €9.5 billion.

Objections were already raised in 2016 by the leaders of eight EU countries warning of the
geopolitical and energy security risks, and by UOKiK, Poland's competition authority, on the grounds
that the new pipeline would increase Gazprom's dominance of the country's gas market. To avoid
the risk of a UOKiK fine, the five EU energy companies decided to participate in the project as lenders
rather than shareholders; thus, instead of being set up as a joint venture, Nord Stream 2 AG, the
company building the pipeline, is a fully owned subsidiary of Gazprom.

[WHITT]

31. Didn't Read That Far

as you had already proved MY point.

They're wrong. The European partners are SHAREHOLDERS.

PERIOD.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. Are you serious?

You think you're right, when you don't even bother to read? You think you're right, and that the Nord Stream 2 company and the European Parliament are wrong? If you don't read about it, where does your massive knowledge come from?

[WHITT]

34. Sorry

You're too tiring.

If you want to continue to beat your dead horse, be my guest.

[Slammer]

40. congrats on winning that weird discussion n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Wrong. Far from toothless. Much more expensive for Russia. No other markets close by. . . . nt

[oldsoftie]

22. Its not toothless if no one buys it. Which is the objective.

Just like the sanctions against Iran crippled their economy.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Done deal now - this describes a bit more too

Germany puts a stop to Nord Stream 2, a key Russian natural gas pipeline.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that Germany would halt certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that would link his country with Russia, one of the strongest moves yet by the West to punish the Kremlin for recognizing two separatist regions in Ukraine. The German leader’s announcement came hours after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ordered armed forces to the separatist regions, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

Germany’s allies in Europe and the United States had been pressing Mr. Scholz for weeks to state publicly that the $11 billion pipeline, which was completed late last year and runs from Russia’s coast to northern Germany under the Baltic Sea, would be at risk of being blocked in the event of a Russian move against Ukraine. “The situation today is fundamentally different,” Mr. Scholz told reporters in Berlin. “That is why we must re-evaluate this situation, in view of the latest developments. By the way, that includes Nord Stream 2.”

Ukraine’s government welcomed Germany’s decision. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it “a morally, politically and practically correct step in the current circumstances.” Since November, the amount of natural gas arriving in Germany from Russia has plunged, driving prices through the roof and draining reserves, leaving all of Europe in an energy crunch. The pipeline, which is owned by a subsidiary of Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy behemoth, has been filled with natural gas but had not gone online, pending approval from a German regulator.

The pipeline had been certified by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government before she left office, the last step before the project was passed on to the regulator, who had said that the project might be approved as early as midyear. But Tuesday’s announcement rescinds the previous government’s approval, and the project will now be re-examined under Mr. Scholz’s economy ministry, which is led by a member of the environmentalist Greens party. Since taking office, both Mr. Scholz and his minister have stressed the importance of diversifying Germany’s energy sources away from the heavy dependence on Russian natural gas.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/business/nord-stream-russia-germany.html

^^^emphasis mine

[LymphocyteLover]

28. excellent news-- Russia had a chance to peacefully join the European economy and they blew it

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Putin wants to reconsitute the U.S.S.R.

in a "modern" form, with him in charge.

I think the chaos of our last election and the pandemic, plus the ditching of his useful idiot, seems to have offered a pretext for a now or never move by him to go for it (particularly since he has control of Crimea and its port).

[gab13by13]

12. Germany and the US

had already made plans for the US to ship liquified natural gas to Germany. It will be more expensive, but those plans have been made.

[RussBLib]

17. what about Nord Stream 1?

isn't that one side-by-side with 2? Is 1 operating?

[gab13by13]

19. Most likely, but I believe

that Nordstream II brought natural gas from Siberia, I could be wrong about this, but it is a big deal for Germany to cancel. Nordstream II was a big project for Putin.

[Ghost Dog]

21. Shouldn't the US stop importing Russian gas

and oil first?

[oldsoftie]

23. YES. Should've stopped long ago.

[LymphocyteLover]

29. Since when did we import any?

We've been a net exporter of gas for a few years now

[BumRushDaShow]

35. See Lukoil

https://www.lukoil.com/

I know we have a pile of them here in Philly and the surrounding 'burbs.



They took over almost all the Mobil stations (there are still some Exxons around here and there).

Russian President Vladimir Putin Visited LUKOIL's Service Station in New York




Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the official opening ceremony of LUKOIL’s service station in New York. The opening ceremony of the Company branded service station in the city center was held as part of the restructuring program LUKOIL was implementing in the USA following acquisition of Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc. in 2000.


https://www.lukoil.com/Company/history/History2003

[LymphocyteLover]

36. Wow, I've never seen those. Gross.

I've lived in the midwest for the past 24 years though.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. I noticed that their gasoline tends to run cheaper around where I live

than the other "major brand" companies (including local Sunoco & Conoco/Phillips 66... and then Exxon, Shell, Gulf, BP, etc).

[Happy Hoosier]

20. It was a bad idea to begin with.

Germany should have never given Russia like kind of economic leverage, given their leadership and what they did in 2014.

[Emile]

38. +1 exactly!

[hunter]

24. So long as Germany rejects nuclear power they cannot quit coal or Russian natural gas.

Notice how nobody is mentioning Nord Stream One which has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas.

If Germany's nimble gas power plants are shut down for lack of fuel then the erratic electrical output of wind and solar projects becomes much less useful and more dirty coal has to be burned.

Germany currently imports about a third of its gas from Russia.

Gas from Nord Stream 2 would have been used to further reduce Germany's dependence on coal.

At the moment the wind is blowing in Germany so gas use is minimal, about 5 gigawatts, but that's not always the case.

For comparison, California's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has a capacity of 2.25 gigawatts.

[artemisia1]

39. I'm afraid that this may be a simply symbolic move that will be quietly overturned once things

calm down. This is a case of Western Europe needing Russia more than Russia needs Western Europe.