US sanction threats won't stop Russia-Germany gas pipeline
by Jill Petzinger | Germany Correspondent | March 25, 2019
A ship laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline offshore in the Baltic Sea to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany. Photo: Bernd Wuestneck/DPA via AP
Despite threats from Washington and protests from many EU member states, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will transport an annual 55 billion cubic meters of natural Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to the German coast, is well on its way to completion, with some 800km out of a total of 1,230km of pipes already laid.
The €8bn ($9bn) pipeline, due to complete by the end of this year, has been frequently condemned by Donald Trump, who claims that it will make Germany too dependent on Russia for energy. The US president is also putting Germany under pressure to purchase more American liquified natural gas.
The US ambassador to Berlin, Richard Grenell, sent a letter to German companies involved in the project in January saying that they risk US sanctions.
On Monday, Nord Stream 2 spokesman Jens Müller said that the project was largely unaffected by the US's new sanctions law — Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) — as investments and loan agreements completed before August 2017 were not at risk.
Müller said most of the western companies' contracts were completed before the law came into effect, and therefore “Nord Stream 2 cannot be affected by sanctions."
The pipeline is owned by Russia's Gazprom, with the main investors Germany's Wintershall and Uniper, Royal Dutch Shell, and Engie from France. It has also been opposed in the EU, with Ukraine in particular worried about losing money from its current gas transit fees to the new offshore pipeline.
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Despite US pressure: Nord Stream 2 will go ahead after France & Germany reach compromise
Source: Financial Review
Donald Trump hires ex-BHP lobbyist Frank Fannon
by John Kehoe (Senior Reporter) | Updated Jan 17, 2018
President Trump announced in a White House statement that Mr Fannon was his nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for energy resources. Evan Vucci
BHP Billiton's former government affairs manager in Washington, Frank Fannon, has landed a senior diplomatic job in Donald Trump's administration.
President Trump announced in a White House statement that Mr Fannon, an American, was his nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for energy resources.
Mr Fannon's appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, further signals Mr Trump is appointing mainstream business figures despite his populist and nationalist rhetoric on trade and immigration.
Former Goldman Sachs bankers Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin occupy senior economic roles.
Mr Fannon's soon-to-be boss at the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, is the former chief executive of ExxonMobil.
Mr Trump's "America First" chief advocate, former chief strategist Steve Bannon, fell out of favour with the President this month, though several nationalist figures remain in senior roles in the Trump administration.
Diplomatic role
Mr Fannon, an ex-BHP lobbyist, is known by associates to be a supporter of open trade and energy exports.
He worked for five years as BHP's head of corporate affairs in Washington. He resigned in September and co-founded an energy and environment-focused consultancy, the Coefficient Group.
Mr Fannon will be responsible for energy diplomacy at the State Department.
Please go to Financial Review to read the entire article.
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Is Germany making Europe dependent on Russia? | DW News
Source: Radio Free Europe (CIA)
U.S. Diplomat Warns Russia Will Use Gas Pipeline To Tighten Grip On Europe
December 11, 2018 • By RFE/RL
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Francis Fannon (center) speaks during a meeting with the prime minister of Ukraine in July.
A top U.S. energy diplomat has warned that Russia wants to increase leverage over Europe and its grip over Ukraine, using the proposed Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
The comments on December 10 by Francis Fannon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources, were the latest push by U.S. officials to try and persuade European leaders to block or modify the pipeline deal.
Nord Stream 2 would bring Russian gas directly to Western Europe and bypass the existing networks running through Ukraine.
Leaders of some of the largest industries in Germany and elsewhere have backed the pipeline as a way to diversify gas supplies.
Germany's foreign minister has said Berlin will not withdraw its political support for it and Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she secured a pledge from Russian President Vladimir Putin allowing gas shipments across Ukraine's territory.
The project, however, has been opposed both by President Donald Trump, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, as a tool for Russia to consolidate sway over Europe.
Please go to Radio Free Europe (CIA) to read the entire article.
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What critics don't realize is that there are economic benefits not only for Russia, but for Germany where concrete coatings are manufactured for the piping used to construct the Nord Stream 2 project and Spain where steel used in the pipes is manufactured. Is there an America company that is capable of building gas pipeline infrastructure on this scale like Russians have developed? Enbridge Inc and perhaps Halliburton are probably the only North American energy-related and pipeline companies of large construction project capabilities but can they build pipelines on this scale without pending billions on infrastructure?
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