Nord Stream 2 The Saga Continues
The saga continues for the Nord Stream 2 link under the Baltic Sea. With that in mind the biggest winners in the tag of war between the U.S. and Russia are the European countries. The price has been the lowest gas prices in three years.
“Although Gazprom has said that U.S. sanctions would not impact its ability to finance the project, the company will face challenges in tapping global debt markets,” said Leslie Palti-Guzman, president of the GasVista LLC energy consultant in New York.
Trump administration is raising the concern to Germany, the issues are ranging from trade to security and immigration. The U.S is concerned that Chancellor Angela Markel’s government is lacking defense against threats including Russia and Nord Stream 2 will ensure funds go to Vladimir Putin’s government.
“I say, ‘How can you do that?’” Trump said at the White House in Washington on Wednesday June 19th. “We’re protecting Germany from Russia. And Russia is getting billions and billions of dollars of money from Germany.”
Trump is also promoting the liquefied natural gas (LNG) that Europe countries would be interested to purchase. Germany is the terminal for Nord Stream 2 but also will be purchasing most of their LNG from it.
The fate of Nord Stream 2 may also be linked to the other disputes roiling Trump’s relationship with Merkel, especially his concern about a trade deficit with Germany coming from car shipments from companies like BMW AG to Volkswagen AG.
Trump administration is still looking at what kind of sanction if the completion of Nord Stream 2 occurred. It might slow down the process to complete the project. It also could impact investing partners to rethink their financial stakes in it.
As the battle to stop the construction is in full swing, will see if this will defer or stop the construction beyond the second half of 2020