Page 15 - EurOil Week 22

EurOil POLICY EurOil

US senators to introduce new

Nord Stream 2 sanctions bill

RUSSIA TWO US senators are expected to introduce new next year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has
sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas said.
Russia wants to use pipeline in a last-ditch attempt to kill the contro- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after
its own pipelaying versial project off completely, Reuters reported the Reuters story about senators weighing new
vessel to complete the on May 31. sanctions that Moscow considers such measures
pipeline. The bill is being proposed by Senators Ted to be unfair competition and contradictory to
Cruz, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Dem- international law.
ocrat, and could be filed on June 1, according to Cruz told the Atlantic Council think-tank
a Reuter’s source. this month that new sanctions would apply to
The US government has objected to the pipe- any ship or any owner who attempts to finish
line, which connects Germany directly to Rus- the project. Ship officers would lose their ability
sia’s Yamal gas fields by running under the Baltic to come to the United States and all their assets
Sea, as threatening Europe’s energy security. would be blocked, he said.
Several EU members, most notably Poland, have While the sanctions have been sold as a
also objected to the pipeline, although Germany question of political energy security, many
has stood resolutely behind what it has called “a observers have also noted Washington’s cynical
purely commercial project.” use of foreign policy to promote its own eco-
The pipeline is close to completion, but nomic interests and boost its exports of LNG
missed its deadline for the start of this year after in particular.
the US imposed new sanctions on the pipeline in In the last month Ukraine has done a deal
December, causing US contractors to drop the with US companies to source half of its gas
project immediately. imports from the US as LNG. Likewise, in Tur-
Late last year sanctions sponsored by Cruz key last week LNG imports outstripped piped gas
and Shaheen halted work by Swiss-Dutch com- imports from Russia for the first time ever. Turk-
pany Allseas on the pipeline that aims to double ish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently
the capacity of an existing line sending Russian in the process of repairing relational damage
gas to Germany. done after Ankara ignored Washington’s objects
Russia says it is determined to finish the to its decision to purchase a Russian-made S-400
project on its own, but lacks the technically missile defence system.
advanced ships that can lay the last sections of Romania also announced last week the
the pipeline, causing delays to completion. state-controlled nuclear energy producer
Now a Russian pipe-laying vessel aims to fin- Nuclearelectrica will begin talks to terminate
ish the remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the pro- the agreement signed with China’s CGN on the
ject, which would bypass Ukraine by sending gas construction of two new reactors at the Cerna-
to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline voda nuclear power plant (NPP), reportedly as a
could be launched by the end of 2020 or early result of US pressure. ™

Week 22 04•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15