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according to three people familiar with the plans. The plan, while in its early stages, could stoke further criticism of Nord Stream 2, owned by Russia’s Gazprom, which some central and eastern European member states charge is counter to E.U. efforts to diversify its energy sources. The US has threatened sanctions against the project and criticized Germany for its strong support for the pipeline. The corporate structure being considered for Nord Stream 2 would substantially undermine an E.U. decision last month that the complete project be subject to the E.U.’s energy rules. The plan to split the pipeline into separate companies echoes the ownership structure used for pipes known as Opal, which are within Germany and link the first Nord Stream pipeline, in operation since 2011, into the country’s gas network.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects OPEC and non- OPEC states to prolong the oil output cut deal until the end of 2019, the authority said in a research note on March 13. In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia first agreed to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market. In December 2018, the participants of the deal decided to cut production by an additional 800,000 barrels per day for OPEC and 400,000 barrels per day for non-OPEC states, including 230,000 barrels per day for Russia, from the level of October 2018. The next meeting of the OPEC+ deal ministerial monitoring committee is scheduled for April 17–18. The EIA also increased its forecast for the average Brent oil price in 2019 to US $62.78 per barrel from $61.03 per barrel, and retained the price forecast for 2020 unchanged at $62 per barrel. The forecast for growth of the world’s commercial oil stock was reduced to 0.2mn barrels per day in 2019 and 0.4mn barrels per day in 2020 due to lower production by both the OPEC states and the US
Russia can raise US $35–40bn investments to localization of production of critically important equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG), Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday. “We see that demand for LNG will double in the next 15 years, until about 2035. This adds about 200mn tonnes of consumption,” he said. “This means that Russia could take about one third of the figure...We have everything we need for that, we have promising resources...We can sell up to 100mn tonnes with our resource base and using Russian equipment. The Russian government signed a roadmap for that last summer. “This is a huge order for the national machine-building industry. This is a comprehensive plan that would create jobs and attract investment, and investment in the LNG segment alone would reach about $35–40bn.” Under the roadmap, production of vital LNG equipment will be launched in Russia in the middle of 2020s.
Nord Stream 2 AG has laid more than 830 kilometers, or 34%, of the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline on the bed of the Baltic Sea, Russian gas giant Gazprom said in a statement on March 12. The combined length of the two threads of the pipeline should exceed 1,200 kilometers. The Nord Stream- 2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55bn cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Gazprom is implementing the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and France’s Engie.
The E.U. should approach all projects, including the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream-2, equally, Greece’s Environment and Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis told PRIME on March 13. “We are calling on the E.U. to set equal terms and have an equal approach for all projects in Europe. And I am
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