Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 18 May 2018

German-Russian pipeline takes shape despite US protests

By FRANK JORDANS and PI- German chemical giant
ETRO DECRISTOFARO BASF, a major investor in
Associated Press Nord Stream 2, alone uses
MUKRAN, Germany (AP) more gas than the country
— Sparks fly and machines of Denmark.
whir as workers busily pre- Under Merkel, Germany
pare thousands of steel has also set itself an ambi-
pipes that will become part tious goal of switching off
of a vast undersea pipeline all nuclear plants by 2022.
bringing gas from Russia to While renewable power is
Germany's northeastern on the rise, coal forms the
Baltic coast. bedrock of Germany's en-
The Nord Stream 2 project ergy mix, a fact that's not
will double the amount of compatible with the coun-
natural gas Russia can fun- try's pledge to sharply re-
nel directly to the heart of duce carbon emissions.
Europe from newly tapped "If you want to take climate
reserves in Siberia, inten- goals seriously then gas is
tionally skirting Eastern Eu- simply an important source
ropean nations like Poland of energy," said Westphal.
and Ukraine. It also prom- From the end of 2019 when
ises much-needed jobs in it's to go online, the twin
this poor German backwa- pipes of Nord Stream 2 will
ter, some three hours' drive In this May 8, 2017 photo steel pipes for the North Stream 2 pipeline are stacked in Mukran harbour pump up to 55 billion cu-
north of Berlin. in Sassnitz, Germany. bic meters of gas to West-
The United States and ern Europe each year, the
some other German allies Putin, a senior U.S. diplomat ing as much persuasive The Associated Press in an same as its predecessor
have bristled at the project, warned that proceeding power" as it can to stop interview. Nord Stream 1, which runs
warning that it could give with the project could re- the project, and noted that Merkel's trip to the Black from the Russian city of
Moscow greater leverage sult in sanctions for those Congress has given the U.S. Sea resort of Sochi, her first Vyborg under the Baltic to
over Western Europe. involved. administration explicit au- visit to Russia in a year, will the German city of Greif-
Energy-poor Germany al- "We would be delighted thority to impose sanctions be a diplomatic balancing swald. The additional gas is
ready relies heavily on Rus- if the project did not take in connection with Russian act. needed to fill a projected
sian gas and so far Chan- place," U.S. Deputy As- pipeline projects if neces- While the German leader decline in supply from Nor-
cellor Angela Merkel has sistant Secretary Sandra sary. has taken a hard line on way and the Netherlands,
deftly kept the new $11 Oudkirk, an energy policy "Any pipeline project — Russian actions in recent as their reserves wane.
billion pipeline off the table expert in the State Depart- and there are many mul- years — from the conflicts The aging Ukrainian Gas
while imposing sanctions ment, told reporters in Berlin tiple pipeline projects in the in Ukraine and Syria to the Transmission System, mean-
against Russia for its actions on Thursday. world that are potentially chemical attack on a for- while, is a Soviet-era relic
in Ukraine. She said Washington is covered by this sanctions mer Russian spy in Britain in bad need of upgrading
But as plans become closer concerned Nord Stream authority — is in an elevat- — Germany badly needs and unlikely to be com-
to reality, the pressure has 2 could increase Russia's ed position of sanctions to secure its gas supply and petitive in the foreseeable
increased on her, and last "malign influence" in Eu- risk," she said. Berlin has calculated that future. Its loss would be a
month after meetings with rope. Jens Mueller, a spokes- Nord Stream 2 offers the severe blow to Kiev, which
Ukrainian President Petro Oudkirk said the new pipe- man for Nord Stream 2, best deal. earns up to 2 billion euros
Poroshenko she acknowl- line would divert gas flows dismissed concerns from Europe's biggest economy ($2.35 billion) a year from
edged that Nord Stream 2 away from Ukraine, which the U.S. and several Euro- is also the world's biggest transit fees — some 2 per-
was more than just a busi- depends heavily on transit pean countries, saying the importer of natural gas. Ac- cent of the country’s gross
ness project, saying that fees, and could become a new pipeline would merely cording to Kirsten Westphal, domestic product.
"political factors have to be pathway for Russia to install be one of many sources of an energy policy expert at A deal that keeps Kiev in
taken into account." surveillance equipment in natural gas for Europe. the German Institute for In- the mix could help nor-
With Merkel heading to So- the Baltic Sea, a sensitive "This pipeline can't be used ternational and Security Af- malize relations between
chi on Friday for talks with military region. to blackmail or negatively fairs, said its import needs Ukraine and Russia, Mos-
Russian President Vladimir She said the U.S. is "exert- affect any country," he told are likely to grow. cow and Berlin.