FX.co ★ Sword of Damocles hanging over Nord Stream 2

Germany resists the US pressure against its participation in the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Germany’s authorities are unwilling to accept the American way to solve a dispute over energy supply. However, Berlin is ready to adjust its stance to the rhetoric of the White House. Such tricky diplomacy arouses lots of questions. Experts suspect that Germany is not going to insist on the termination of Nord Stream 2 for a simple reason. To complete construction and to bring the project into operation are entirely different things.

Interestingly, the German side finds it beneficial to work under such conditions. Russia spends massive money to push ahead with the pipeline construction and to lobby its interests in Brussels amid the fierce standoff with the US. Besides, launching the pipeline which has been already built is a weighty argument in negotiations with Russia’s authorities. Therefore, Germany has not made flat statements on its withdrawal from Nord Stream 2. However, it is obvious that not a single company is willing to find itself on the blacklist of the White House.

Washington is serious about imposing sanctions against the whole pipeline project and any of its contractors. US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry reiterated this message on May 21 in Kyiv during his talks with newly-elected Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. A few large oil and gas producers are running a risk to be put on the blacklist. Among such participants are Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Austria’s OMV, British-Dutch Shell, and France’s Engie.