MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2020) Even though the US senators are aiming to expand the sanctions on the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Washington's actions will unlikely prevent the project from being completed, experts told Sputnik.
On Thursday, US senators introduced new legislation to sanction all companies that provide certification, insurance and port facilities for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
"I do not expect the sanctions to disrupt construction. Nor do I think the US will take further steps to disrupt the launch. The bill, I believe, is intended to show opposition without an expectation that the project will be derailed," Gary Clyde Hufbauer, nonresident senior fellow with the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics and former US Treasury official, told Sputnik.
Jonathan Stern, professor with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, agrees with Hufbauer that the expansion of US sanctions will not have a major impact on the construction of the pipeline.
"As long as Gazprom is prepared to risk US sanctions, and as long as the two Russian ships are capable of laying the remaining 160km [99 miles], then nothing can stop completion of Nord Stream 2. But if Gazprom fears than sanctions may create major financial problems, or the two ships cannot complete the line, then further delays may be expected," Stern told Sputnik.
What may have an impact on the pipeline is the falling gas demand in Europe against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown, the Oxford professor noted.
"Given reduced gas demand in Europe, Gazprom's projection of 167 bcm of exports to Europe in 2020 (compared with around 200 bcm in 2018 and 2019), and probably a similar volume for 2021, plus the 5-year transit deal with Ukraine, the need for additional export capacity from Nord Stream 2 is less urgent than it seemed a year ago," Stern added.
Nord Stream 2 AG is analyzing the possible consequences of the entry into force of the US bill on new sanctions against the gas pipeline project, the company's spokesperson, Jens Mueller, told Sputnik on Thursday.
The German Foreign Ministry earlier in the week slammed the US plans to expand the sanctions, saying that the timing was wrong for the United States to threaten the Nord Stream 2 pipeline amid the global pandemic.
The Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russia's Gazprom and five European companies. The pipeline will carry up to 1.942 trillion cubic feet of gas per year from Russia to Germany through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.
