“Dying Pipeline”: Before Sanctions Against European Companies. New President Biden is also sticking to the course.
The US government sees the German-Russian Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2, in the financing of which OMV is also involved, in the last few meters before the end and increases the sanction pressure on European companies involved. “This pipeline will not take place,” said a high-ranking US government representative from the dpa news agency in Washington. “This is what a dying pipeline looks like.”
First punitive measures
The government has identified a number of companies and people who face initial sanctions under the Nord Stream 2 Sanctions Act. Those affected are currently being contacted and informed about the impending sanctions. “The US does not want to have to impose sanctions on European companies. We are making these calls to warn them and to give them time to get out,” said the government official. The handling of activities in connection with Nord Stream 2 is not subject to sanctions.
“Instead of investing more money in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and related activities, companies would be better off using force majeure clauses to reverse their stake in Nord Stream 2,” said the government official. He did not provide any information on which companies would specifically be contacted. He called Nord Stream 2 “a geopolitical project that Russia will use to blackmail European countries”.
Dependence on Moscow
The US argue that the pipeline would make Germany dependent on Moscow. Last December, the US Congress passed the “Law to Protect Europe's Energy Security” (PEESA) with bipartisan support. Despite sharp criticism from Germany and Russia, US President Donald Trump put the law into effect on December 20. The sanctions were aimed at the operating companies of the special ships that laid the pipes for the pipeline.
PEESA initially stopped construction. The Swiss company Allseas, which had laid pipes in the Baltic Sea with special ships, stopped work at the end of last year because of the impending US sanctions. According to the Nord Stream 2 operator consortium, 2,300 of the 2,460-kilometer gas pipeline had already been laid from Russia to Germany.
Biden stays on course
The new US President will be sworn in on January 20th. After the November 3rd election, Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner. Trump has so far refused to admit defeat. Trump is a bitter opponent of Nord Stream 2. But Biden is also critical of the project. In his earlier role as US Vice President under Barack Obama, Biden had called the pipeline “a fundamentally bad deal for Europe”.
