The group behind the Nord Stream 2 project said yesterday that it intends to complete the pipeline as soon as possible to boost Russian gas supplies to Europe after US sanctions forced the main contractor to suspend work on the pipeline.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed a bill that includes the introduction of sanctions on companies laying pipes for Nord Stream 2, which is supposed to double the existing gas capacity along the Nord Stream route to Germany.
The Bloomberg agency announced that the US does not have too much power to prevent the completion of the project and that it has admitted the defeat of years of efforts in this direction.
Senior US administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Bloomberg that the sanctions came too late to have any effect. The U.S. will instead try to impose costs on other Russian energy projects, one of the officials said.
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The Americans have threatened sanctions, seeking to cancel the $11 billion project, ahead of its completion.
The German "Spiegel" is recently wrote that the situation resembles the Cold War, with the fact that the Russians and the Americans are now using economic weapons, and the epicenter of the crisis is again in Berlin.
Washington, which is seeking new markets for its liquefied natural gas (LNG), says Nord Stream 2 will make Europe too dependent on Russian supplies.
Gazprom, the Russian gas giant and the main carrier of Northern Tog 2, already meets more than a third of Europe's gas needs.
President Vladimir Putin wants to bypass Ukraine via the Baltic Sea route. This would save Russia billions in transit fees it pays to Ukraine, with which it has been at loggerheads since annexing Crimea in 2014. The two countries reached a new transit agreement this week after protracted negotiations.
Nord Stream 2 is scheduled to start operating in the first half of 2020.
"Completion of the project is essential for the security of European supplies. Together with the companies that help in the project, we will work to ensure that it is completed as soon as possible," stated the announcement of the consortium behind the project.
The European Union has condemned US sanctions against companies involved in the construction of gas pipelines. The EU spokesperson said that the European Commission is analyzing the possible consequences of those measures.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said that Berlin "firmly rejects" the US sanctions, but that it will not bow down.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "opposed to extraterritorial sanctions" against the pipeline.
"They affect German and European companies and represent interference in our internal affairs," said Merkel's spokeswoman Ulrike Demer in a statement yesterday.
One of the contractors of Nord Stream 2, the Swiss-Dutch company Olsis (Allseas), announced on Friday that it is suspending activities on the installation of the pipeline to avoid US sanctions.
Olsis, which is privately owned, specializes in subsea construction and underwater pipe laying.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that Moscow will continue with its economic projects regardless of anyone's sanctions. Ministry spokeswoman Marija Zakharova accused Washington of promoting an "ideology" that hinders global competition.
The bill calls on the administration to identify the companies working on the project within 60 days for the sanctions to take effect. That report is expected to be completed sooner.
The sanctions, which are part of a broader bill related to the 2020 US defense budget, include asset freezes and the suspension of US visas for entrepreneurs working on the project.
Gazprom bears half of the planned costs of the gas pipeline project, and the rest is shared by five European companies: Austrian OMV, German Uniper and Wintershell, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and French Enzy.
And Barack Obama's administration opposed the Nord Stream 2 project, believing it would strengthen Putin's economic and political influence in Europe.
The US has become the world's largest oil and gas producer in recent years, and is aggressively trying to sell its products abroad. The Trump administration says LNG is the "gas of freedom" that provides Europe with an alternative to Russian supplies.
Germany says it needs the gas as it moves away from coal and nuclear power.
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