Page 13 - EurOil Week 09 2023

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Gas supply contract arbitration will hinge

greatly on Nord Stream investigations

EUROPE WHOEVER was responsible for the explosions US Ambassador John Kelley rejected this,
that burst the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines describing the UN discussions on February 21 as
Billions of dollars in last September could be key to deciding on mul- “a blatant attempt to distract” from the one-year
arbitration cases are at ti-billion dollar arbitration claims lodged by anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on
stake. European gas buyers that subsequently lost their February 24 last year.
Russian supply. “This is what our focus should be on,” he said.
Russia demanded a debate on the Nord “Russia desperately wants to change the subject.”
Stream incidents at the UN Security Council Moscow is “abusing its position as a Council
last week, as well as a UN inquiry. Moscow has member for using this platform to air internet
expressed doubts about the integrity and trans- conspiracy theories.”
parency of investigations into the events in Den- UN investigations should be preserved for
mark, Germany and Sweden, after being denied cases when states are unwilling or unable to
access to the information in the probes. investigate such incidents themselves, he said.
Moscow vehemently accuses Washington of Russia’s call for a UN inquiry was rejected,
causing the explosions, and has said its claims are however. UN Under-Secretary-General for
vindicated by a recent investigative blog released Political and Peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo
by veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh, which urged both sides to “show restraint and avoid any
concluded that the US Navy was behind the speculation.”
blasts, working at the behest of US President Joe “We should avoid any unfounded accusa-
Biden. tions that could further escalate the already
There is “proof that explosives had been heightened tensions in the region and potentially
planted” near the pipeline during a Nato exer- inhibit the search for the truth,” she said.
cise in the summer of 2022, Russian ambassador Furthermore, the UN “is not in a position
Vassily Nebenzia said during UN discussions, to verify or confirm any of the claims relating
citing the report that Hersh produced. The report to these incidents, and we await the findings of
based its claims on a single anonymous source, ongoing national investigations,” she said. Pre-
and the White House has dismissed it as “pure liminary results of those probes show “extensive
fiction.” damage,” signs of “gross sabotage” and “foreign
“This journalist is telling the truth,” Nebenzia items” seized at the sites.
said. “This is more than just a smoking gun that
detectives love in Hollywood blockbusters. It’s a The key to contract disputes
basic principle of justice; everything is in your Whatever further evidence is revealed concern-
hands, and we can resolve this today.” ing the cause of the Nord Stream pipeline blasts

Week 09 03•March•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P13