January 5, 2021
A new movement has emerged over Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline connecting Germany and Russia. According to several medias, Norway's third-party certification body DNV GL, which participates in the construction project, was scheduled to conduct the necessary inspections and certifications to start operations, but will stop doing so. The recent re-passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the U.S. Senate seems to have helped DNV GL avoid U.S. sanctions. (The map is reprinted from Gazprom's official website.)
On January 1, the U.S. Senate re-passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which largely frames the defense budget for fiscal year 2021. The U.S. House of Representatives was also re-passed at the end of December last year, but was re-passed because the U.S. President Donald Trump had vetoed it. Nord Stream 2 is also included in the bill.
Nord Stream 2 is a 1,200-kilometre-long natural gas undersea pipeline project connecting Usti Riga on the Baltic coast in Leningrad, Russia, and Greifswald in northern Germany. Major energy companies such as Engie, Uniper and OMV have been jointly involved in the construction of this project. On the other hand, the United States, Ukraine, Poland, etc. have shown the intention against construction.
The U.S. is particularly nervous about the construction of Nord Stream 2. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed on his official website that "the Russia-led Nord 2 Stream project threatens U.S. national security and should not be completed." Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (R-New Hampshire) has also restrained Russia, warning that "Russia is threatening energy self-sufficiency in Ukraine and Europe."
While moving to impose economic sanctions on Russia, the United States has strengthened its energy ties with Russia's surrounding countries. At the end of May 2020, the Ukrainian government, which has been in a hurry to break away from dependence on natural gas from Russia since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on liquefied natural gas (LNG) import agreement with Louisiana Natural Gas Exports. Ukraine will import at least 5.5 billion cubic meters of U.S. LNG on an annual basis.
Meanwhile, in anticipation of the completion of the Nord-Stream 2, Russia is proceeding with the construction of the plant solemnly, including announcing plans for the construction of natural gas-related facilities. According to Gazprom, a new natural gas complex will be built in Usti-Riga, the starting point for Nord-Stream 2. With a natural gas capacity of 45 billion cubic meters per year, it will be one of the largest in Russia. The company also revealed that the LNG plant will have an LNG production capacity of 13 million tons per year and will produce ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) after operation.
Naoya Abe
Former Bloomberg News reporter and editor
Capitol Intelligence Group (Washington D.C.) Tokyo bureau chief
Currently working as Managing editor of the news site MIRUPLUS
