Nord Stream 2 Could Still End Up In "Investment Ruin"

[Tangmo]

Nord Stream 2 Could Still End Up In "Investment Ruin"

Editor OilPrice.com
September 20, 2021

Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline, may yet flop, according to the co-leader of the European Greens, Reinhard Butikofer. The co-chair of the Green Party in the European Parliament said there are still obstacles that Nord Stream 2 needs to clear before it is put into operation, and even after it clears them, the European Commission could still stop the project and turn it into an "investment ruin."


Butikofer went on to list three challenges still remaining for Gazprom. First, it needs to unbundle its gas production operations from its gas infrastructure operations. The unbundling rule aims to prevent gas monopolies. Second, Gazprom must give third parties the right to feed gas into the pipeline, which it has not yet done. Third and last, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline needs to receive the go-ahead from the German authorities, which is also pending. Yet even if the German authorities grant Gazprom and its Nord Stream partners a permit for the pipeline, the European Commission can cancel it if it finds the project violates European energy law, the EP official explained.

Nord Stream 2 Could Still End Up In "Investment Ruin"

Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline, may yet flop, according to the co-leader of the European Greens, Reinhard Butikofer

www.yahoo.com

As we see the EU and German courts and German regulators who are now joined with the Poland regulators have made clear NS 2 needs a complete legal and regulatory driven overhaul to operate in Europe at even one-third its intended investment capacity and capability. Gazprom has been saying for most of the year that while Biden lifting sanctions on construction of the pipeline led to its completion, the Russian real headaches are in getting it certified and also evading all the German and EU laws, rules, regs that require Gazprom to change its grand business and operational plan completely, ie, by reducing its participation significantly.

 

[Tangmo]

To update things, recently initiated EU Commission energy rules -- and decisions since July by courts in Brussels and in Germany upholding the rules -- have placed Nord Stream 2 SK at the great risk of "investment ruin."

For starters courts have upheld the EU Commission Gas Directive of 2019 that Gazprom can operate NS 2 SK at only 50% of the pipeline's capacity. In other words Gazprom must sell the other 50% pipeline capacity to a third party that has nothing to do with Gazprom.

EU and German courts have also upheld the EU Commission anti monopoly Third Energy Package that requires Gazprom to sell its overland distribution network to a non Gazprom distributor. In other words the EU Third Energy Package is an anti monopoly package that hits Gazprom directly and completely by requiring a third party to deliver gas to German and European consumers via the overland pipeline network.


Nord Stream 2 appeals decision that EU rules apply to pipeline

FRANKFURT, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Nord Stream 2 AG said it has appealed a court decision that confirmed the pipeline will not be exempt from European Union rules that require the owners of pipelines [Gazprom] to be different from the suppliers of the gas that flows in them [ie, absolutely not Gazprom]. The decision was made by the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court, and a spokesperson for the [Gazprom] consortium said it had filed an appeal with the German Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. read more

EU rules require the companies that produce, transport and distribute gas within the bloc to be separate, or "unbundled". They aim to ensure fair competition in the market and to prevent companies from possibly obstructing competitors' access to infrastructure. This means that the company transporting the gas [Gazprom] must auction its capacity to third parties [absolutely not Gazprom]. The Nord Stream 2 operator [Gazprom] claims the [EU Commission] rules, amended in 2019, were aimed at torpedoing the pipeline (correct).

Nord Stream 2 appeals decision that EU rules apply to pipeline

Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 said it has appealed a court decision that confirmed the pipeline will not be exempt from European Union rules that require the owners of pipelines to be different from the suppliers of the gas that flows in them.

www.reuters.com

There I made the story more specific and complete without changing it. So, yes, send commodore Putin down with his ship....as Putin's BFF Merkel looks on in horror.


The direct consequence is that Gazprom can expect to receive only and approximately one-third of its anticipated return on investment. The investment is an initial EUR 10bn on a project that is two years behind schedule and that has run up a total cost of EUR 12bn. Gazprom entered a further delay as of October 1st when it had to cancel plans to preset piping in Germany and on to western Europe.

Gazprom could not start initial procedures because the Germany energy regulator has yet to certify the pipeline and said it will need until mid January to reach a decision. Neither is it good news for the Kremlin Mafia that the German regulator brought the Poland regulator into the certification process given Poland has been howling against NS2 from the first mention of it many years ago. The Poland regulator has already fined Gazprom EUR 750m over the pipeline's secrecy in refusing to provide requested documents the Poland regulator will continue to demand.

 

[Tangmo]

Putin is doing already what Washington and so many Europeans have said Putin and the Kremlin Mafia would do, ie, using gas as a weapon against Europe.


US crude oil price tops $80 a barrel - the highest in seven years
- as global fuel shortage continues amid Russian-EU spat

• US crude oil prices reached $80 a barrel on Friday, the highest since 2014
• Experts warn prices could continue to rise as demand keeps going up while supply remains tight amid a global fuel shortage
• The crisis was exacerbated after Russian President Vladamir Putin leveraged a natural gas shortage in Europe, causing energy prices to climb
• Putin hinted on Thursday that he would increase supply if European leaders approved his $11B Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project

High oil prices also mean higher gas prices as Americans are paying the most for gasoline in seven years. The national average for a gallon of gas was $3.26 on Friday, according to AAA, $1 more than it was last year. The shortage was perpetuated by the Russian President, who leveraged a natural gas shortage in Europe to secure approval for his controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

On Wednesday, Putin hinted that he will pump out more gas if Brussels approves the new pipeline bypassing Ukraine and entering the EU through Germany, leading UK officials to accuse Russia of turning energy 'into a weapon' and 'bullying' Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said existing gas transit routes allow for bolstering supplies before the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will carry Russian gas to Germany begins operating.

US crude oil price at $80 a barrel as global fuel shortage continues

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US oil benchmark, reached $80 per barrel on Friday and remains high over $79, with demand high as supply remains tight amid an energy shortage.

www.dailymail.co.uk

DoE in Washington said it is "actively monitoring" the Putin manipulation of the gas markets in Europe that are affecting the USA but globally as well. Sounds pretty feeble for a feisty and very smart Secretary such as Jennifer Granholm.

Sen. Ted Cruz meanwhile continues his months long hold against almost two dozen Biden appointments that need Senate confirmation, mainly to the State Department, until Biden restores sanctions against Nord Stream 2 that Biden lifted in the spring. The White House says the hold on presidential appointments has created a "crisis" in the government's management of its daily affairs and policy pursuits. As they say in the Russian Marines however, it's toughsky shitsky but this time to the NS2 surrender wimps in Washington.

The House last week amended the Defense Appropriations Act it passed and sent to the Senate to mandate Potus Biden to reinstate the sanctions he lifted against NS2 that is Still Kaput as it must undergo certification for safety, efficiency, reliability. The amendment removed the president's waiver of the sanctions, which Biden cited in lifting 'em.

As I'd mentioned, Germany which is the certifying authority of NS2 has recently brought vehement NS2 opponent Poland and its energy regulator into the German energy regulator's certification process after the European High Court of Justice ruled in July Germany is in violation of the EU Treaty Charter, ie, Berlin supports a non EU member state Russia against the positions of EU member states. The High Court said Germany is in violation of the core principle of EU Unity. Russia is of course a geostrategic opponent of the EU -- and of the U.S. led NATO.

 

[Tangmo]

Who knew eh?

Everyone knew of course.

Yet the Russo-German Geostrategic Axis of Energy devised by Putin and his Kremlin Mafia with Merkel and the Russian state captured Berlin carry on anyway and exactly as predicted by opponents in EU and NATO.

Moscow uses gas to blackmail Europe

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The record rise in the price of gas in Europe, which is equivalent to almost 200 dollars a barrel of oil, has given Russia and its energy giant Gazprom an extraordinary weapon to put pressure on its Western partners. There is a serious danger that Europe will be forced to suffer the cold next winter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been the main supporter of Nord Stream-2, has proposed a plan to end dependence on Russian gas by 2045. While increasing and diversifying production from alternative sources, the plan seems unrealistic.

Russian expert Mikhail Krutikhin commented [that] in his opinion, "this is a form of blackmail, until the new gas volumes from Nord Stream-2 are accepted, despite the fact that there are simpler alternatives available such as the Ukrainian route, which would be used immediately if Russia were really interested in saving Europe from freezing". The Baltic route would in fact not increase volumes, but merely divert them. As Krutikhin explains, Gazprom "is not just a commercial enterprise, it is more correct to call it a political tool of the Kremlin, which can give up huge profits just to force Europeans to submit to Russia's conditions, cutting off Ukraine". The Ukrainians are trying to convince Europeans not to submit to Russian blackmail by ensuring the viability of gas supplies through its territory. As the head of the Ukrainian Energy Operators, Sergei Makogon, said in Brussels, speaking at the NATO meeting on energy security, "the basic aims of the Russian aggressor are to weaken the security of Ukraine and create a schism within the European Union".

Moscow uses gas to blackmail Europe

Record price rises in the Old Continent due to increased demand and low reserves. Putin is demanding that the increased volumes be passed on through the new Russian-German Nord Stream-2 pipe

www.asianews.it

A Kremlin Trojan Horse in Europe perpetrated by Germany and led personally by Putin's BFF Chancellor Angela Merkel.

 

[joluoto]

It's quite insdious indeed. Russian usually sell gas cheaper than their competitors, which is one of the reasons so many countries in Europe at least partially buy their gas from Russia. Russia now delivering less and less in order to force Nordstream 2 to be turned on by the Germans leave everyone to buy more from Russia's competitors, or buy other types of energy than gas. But this all means the price of gas and energy rises, and it hits countries that either don't buy from Russia at all, or buy very little from them. And suddenly Russia can paint Germany at being very selfish and ruining the energy market by not turning on Nordstream 2, although it's all their doing.

 

[Tangmo]

Putin just keeps saying, this time live on TV just yesterday, to approve Nord Stream 2 and I'll turn up the gas flow I decreased so you can have the energy you need going into winter and so that prices that I have caused suddenly to triple can return to normal levels. Otherwise you're going to freeze your arses this winter because I also spent the summer depleting and not replacing your reserves to only 60%.

Yet Nord Stream 2 is in violation of the EU Gas Directive of 2019 and violates the EU anti monopoly Third Energy Package. The gas directive limits Gazprom to only 50% capacity use of the pipeline. The EU anti monopoly Third Energy Package says Gazprom can do only one of the following: provide the gas, transit the gas, distribute the gas. Given Gazprom is the provider, it cannot also do the transiting of the gas nor can it distribute the gas. Still however, Gazprom has taken zero steps to comply with the EU directive and the EU package.


Nord Stream 2: Security and climate wrecking ball

Nord Stream 2 is a wrecking ball hurling towards Europe at an ever-accelerating pace: It promises to improve the stability of gas supplies but will undermine it instead. Nord Stream 2 is a climate disaster in the making and a Europe-wide national security emergency. This diversionary pipeline has no commercial justification. Its only promise is the isolation for Ukraine and Poland from the rest of Europe, splintering of the Transatlantic alliance, and further concentration of market power in the hands of a single gas company — directly contradicting Europe’s interests and stated policies.


Germany and Europe do not need another Baltic Sea pipeline to reap the benefits of coal-for-gas switching. For decades, Russian gas reached Germany via Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia, ensuring energy security for all. At this very time, Ukraine’s transmission network is operating 70% empty. “Russia and other energy-rich authoritarian states use their energy exports for economic gains but also as a tool of foreign policy leverage,” concluded a study commissioned by the European Parliament. The latest actions by Gazprom, which is choosing not to book available transit capacities, thus curbing supplies, and squeezing the European gas market, are just a taste of things to come.

Nord Stream 2: Security and climate wrecking ball

Nord Stream 2 is a wrecking ball hurling towards Europe at an ever accelerating pace, it promises to improve the stability of gas supplies but will undermine it instead, writes Mykhailo Gonchar.

www.euractiv.com

With Putin's BFF Merkel getting ready to make her exit the German energy minister said he's unaware of any notice the Kremlin is claiming to have made to expedite an approval of NS2 to November. Like Sgt. Schultz the German energy minister says he knows nothing about it.

So with the fat lady preparing to sing and a new coalition government taking shape, two of whose three members are opposed to NS2, ie, the Greens and FDP, the German government in Berlin appears to be taking a few steps back from Merkel's fierce and unrelenting advocacy of Putin's Pet Pipeline against EU and NATO.

Euroactive btw has two million readers throughout Europe 80% of whom can read the monthly journal in their native language.

 

[Juin]

Nord Stream 2 Could Still End Up In "Investment Ruin"

Editor OilPrice.com
September 20, 2021

Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline, may yet flop, according to the co-leader of the European Greens, Reinhard Butikofer. The co-chair of the Green Party in the European Parliament said there are still obstacles

At the personal level, exactly what is your objection to Nord Stream 2? If Nord Stream 2 was a land pipe built across Ukraine to Europe, would you still object? My suspicion is that if Nord Stream 2 was a transit across Ukraine those vehemently opposed would be supporting it. If I am correct then what we are dealing with are efforts to prevent Russia from having its most valuable export commodity not in the grasp of Ukraine.

Because Putin is a dictator, and maybe a son of a b*tch to boot, Russia should not secure her exports by not having as middlemen countries in which she may be, or will be in conflict?

Sorry, the dictator makes perfect sense. It is wise to retrieve your valuables from he whom you plan to attack. Now Russia shouldn't go about attacking as fine a country as Ukraine. But the dictator may have no choice in the matter. Ukraine plans to invite unto its soil a military alliance hostile to Russia. Meaning the Russian dictator can get up one morning and, from the spires of their the Kremlin, see Nato panzers through binoculars. It is the job of this dictator to block the creep towards Moscow of a rival and hostile military alliance.

Talk is cheap, especially when one is in the opposition. The Greens are not gonna be popular for very long if the gas market begins to impact in Germany

 

[Tangmo]

At the personal level, exactly what is your objection to Nord Stream 2? If Nord Stream 2 was a land pipe built across Ukraine to Europe, would you still object? My suspicion is that if Nord Stream 2 was a transit across Ukraine those vehemently opposed would be supporting it. If I am correct then what we are dealing with are efforts to prevent Russia from having its most valuable export commodity not in the grasp of Ukraine.

Because Putin is a dictator, and maybe a son of a b*tch to boot, Russia should not secure her exports by not having as middlemen countries in which she may be, or will be in conflict?

Sorry, the dictator makes perfect sense. It is wise to retrieve your valuables from he whom you plan to attack. Now Russia shouldn't go about attacking as fine a country as Ukraine. But the dictator may have no choice in the matter. Ukraine plans to invite unto its soil a military alliance hostile to Russia. Meaning the Russian dictator can get up one morning and, from the spires of their the Kremlin, see Nato panzers through binoculars. It is the job of this dictator to block the creep towards Moscow of a rival and hostile military alliance.

Talk is cheap, especially when one is in the opposition. The Greens are not gonna be popular for very long if the gas market begins to impact in Germany

Putin is of course trying now to blackmail Europe into accepting Nord Stream 2.

If he can do this he will only get worse, as almost anyone would know -- and expect 100%..

Ukraine pipes are 70% empty while NS 2 would only divert gas flows to it from Ukraine. There would be no increase of gas flow due to NS2.

If Putin and Ukraine together and instead put new pipelines in Ukraine hardly anyone would be against it, yes. But as you note without guilt or shame, Putin is getting his valuables out of Ukraine while not replacing them with any others. Which is why 11,000 NATO troops have been in Ukraine all year doing exercises in the West -- I would expect this to become ongoing rather than for this year only.

NS2 is moreover in violation of the EU Gas Directive of 2019 and the EU anti monopoly Third Energy Package yet neither does Gazprom and its Kremlin Mafia care. Kremlin is instead trying to leverage and manipulate EU using blackmail, ie, not meeting demand and by reducing EU reserves since the summer, down to 60%, to get approval of the useless, unneeded and redundant NS 2. It seems quite clear EU will not relent on this however.

The attitude of your post as a Putinista is interesting yet it also has the tone and tenor that causes me to want to say openly what is being discussed only in private. That is, some accidents can be expected to pipelines almost anywhere as can happen. Y'know, explosions and stuff. Methinks you'd know this well in fact. Still it costs much less and less by far to repair an overland pipeline than it does to repair an undersea one. Maintenance is far less too. So while tit for tat is unwise the theoretical possibility of independent small fish actors can be an effective preventative.

 

[Ug make hammer]

With 43% of their gas already coming from Russia, any further dependence would be foolish.

20% from Norway
12% from Algeria
6% from the UK
5% from Qatar
5% from the US
<5% from Nigeria

The African sources look like the best prospects to develop. The US supply is presumably liquified, which I have other reasons to oppose.

 

[Ug make hammer]

That is, some accidents can be expected to pipelines almost anywhere as can happen. Y'know, explosions and stuff.

Fires can happen, but explosions require a air/fuel mixture. You might get a small explosion in the small zone around a leak, but mostly it would be a fire.

(The purity of the gas makes a difference. CH4, the main ingredient in natural gas, rises. C2H6 etc may settle and form that air/fuel mixture)

 

[Tangmo]

Fires can happen, but explosions require a air/fuel mixture. You might get a small explosion in the small zone around a leak, but mostly it would be a fire.

(The purity of the gas makes a difference. CH4, the main ingredient in natural gas, rises. C2H6 etc may settle and form that air/fuel mixture)

The talk is of sabotage.

 

[Ug make hammer]

The talk is of sabotage.

Yes, but oil pipelines probably pose more risk. The oil releases relatively heavy vapor and people get in amongst it to get some free oil (to burn, for warmth.) Gas just causes a flare but to make an explosion needs to build up in a confined space to get the explosive ratio of air to fuel.

Also "small fish actors" attacking cross-sea pipes got me the second time. They'd need a scuba squid. Yes, groan.

 

[Tangmo]

Yes, but oil pipelines probably pose more risk. The oil releases relatively heavy vapor and people get in amongst it to get some free oil (to burn, for warmth.) Gas just causes a flare but to make an explosion needs to build up in a confined space to get the explosive ratio of air to fuel.

Also "small fish actors" attacking cross-sea pipes got me the second time. They'd need a scuba squid. Yes, groan.

I'll not pursue spelling it out to you any further so thx anyway. The talk is of "unknown actors" placing explosive devices to sabotage the overland pipelines through Ukraine. And a possible retaliation by equally "unknown actors" against the undersea pipeline that is Nord Stream 2. The belief is that each side would know there would be little or nothing to gain from such a destructive scenario, yet we don't know all the calculations as events press on. Indeed however, this blackmail business creates bad blood.

 

[Ug make hammer]

I'll not pursue spelling it out to you any further so thx anyway. The talk is of "unknown actors" placing explosive devices to sabotage the overland pipelines through Ukraine. And a possible retaliation by equally "unknown actors" against the undersea pipeline that is Nord Stream 2. The belief is that each side would know there would be little or nothing to gain from such a destructive scenario, yet we don't know all the calculations as events press on. Indeed however, this blackmail business creates bad blood.

Pardon me for reckoning the damage not just by difficulty restoring the flow of gas, and "bad blood." I tend to reckon actual blood: lives put in peril.

I won't bother trying to spell it out any more for you. Some people don't care about human lives, and good luck to them. Their day will come.

 

[Juin]

Putin is of course trying now to blackmail Europe into accepting Nord Stream 2.

I am not sure how "blackmail" accurately describes the situation. Putin does NOT want Ukraine as transit for Russian gas to Europe. And Ukraine's gas problems with Russia precedes even the dictator, and goes back as far as the fall of the Soviet Union, Putin, or no Putin, Russia would still have embarked on transit that avoided Ukraine. The gas disputes resulted in disruptions in delivery to Europe; which probably explains why Germany has been all for a transit of gas to Germany that avoided dispute territories.

Germany wanted Nord Stream 2 as much as Russia. Putin has built Nord Stream 2; why should he not insist on using it? And how can it be that Germany is being "blackmailed" for a project she wanted as much as the dictator of Russia?

If he can do this he will only get worse, as almost anyone would know -- and expect 100%..

The dictator of Russia has the pipeline to deliver exactly what Europe wants; I fail to see where he is acting inappropriately. The dictator of Russia has a duty to deliver the gas; not how the gas is delivered. Why should it make any sense to any Russian, dictator or not, that some parties insist Russia's most valuable commodity transit through a hostile country?

Ukraine pipes are 70% empty while NS 2 would only divert gas flows to it from Ukraine. There would be no increase of gas flow due to NS2.

Correct. There would be no increase of gas flow due to Nord Stream 2. That also addresses the protestation from Washington DC that Nord Stream 2 will increase European dependency on Russian gas. Nord Stream 2 is not there to increase flows of Russian gas to Europe. Nord Stream 2 is there to eliminate Ukraine as transit for Russian gas.

I will like you to address why you expect Russia not to avoid transiting her gas through Ukraine that is hostile to Russia?

If Putin and Ukraine together and instead put new pipelines in Ukraine hardly anyone would be against it, yes. But as you note without guilt or shame, Putin is getting his valuables out of Ukraine while not replacing them with any others. Which is why 11,000 NATO troops have been in Ukraine all year doing exercises in the West -- I would expect this to become ongoing rather than for this year only.

You yourself make an excellent case for why the dictator of Russia was correct in building Nord Stream 2.

NS2 is moreover in violation of the EU Gas Directive of 2019 and the EU anti monopoly Third Energy Package yet neither does Gazprom and its Kremlin Mafia care. Kremlin is instead trying to leverage and manipulate EU using blackmail, ie, not meeting demand and by reducing EU reserves since the summer, down to 60%, to get approval of the useless, unneeded and redundant NS 2. It seems quite clear EU will not relent on this however.

Methinks, thou doeth protesteth too much.

The attitude of your post as a Putinista is interesting yet it also has the tone and tenor that causes me to want to say openly what is being discussed only in private. That is, some accidents can be expected to pipelines almost anywhere as can happen. Y'know, explosions and stuff. Methinks you'd know this well in fact. Still it costs much less and less by far to repair an overland pipeline than it does to repair an undersea one. Maintenance is far less too. So while tit for tat is unwise the theoretical possibility of independent small fish actors can be an effective preventative.

That is Putin's problem. I am a Trumpista, even though some would consider it a strange kind of Trumpista. I am not a Putinista, even though you may insist I should be one.

My whole point has been that it makes sense, actually it is paramount fromt the Russian point of view- not just Putin's- that Russia avoid Ukraine as transit for her gas. The bottom line is both are likely to go to war, or more accurately Russia will pounce on a bit of Ukraine in the near or distant future. And that may not change whether Russia is a dictatorship or a democracy. Keep in mind that even the meek and mild, sissy Gorbachev came out in support of Putin's seizure of Crimea.

 

[Tangmo]

1) Germany wanted Nord Stream 2 as much as Russia. Putin has built Nord Stream 2; why should he not insist on using it? And how can it be that Germany is being "blackmailed" for a project she wanted as much as the dictator of Russia?



2) The dictator of Russia has the pipeline to deliver exactly what Europe wants; I fail to see where he is acting inappropriately. The dictator of Russia has a duty to deliver the gas; not how the gas is delivered. Why should it make any sense to any Russian, dictator or not, that some parties insist Russia's most valuable commodity transit through a hostile country?



3) Correct. There would be no increase of gas flow due to Nord Stream 2. That also addresses the protestation from Washington DC that Nord Stream 2 will increase European dependency on Russian gas. Nord Stream 2 is not there to increase flows of Russian gas to Europe. Nord Stream 2 is there to eliminate Ukraine as transit for Russian gas.

I will like you to address why you expect Russia not to avoid transiting her gas through Ukraine that is hostile to Russia?


4) You yourself make an excellent case for why the dictator of Russia was correct in building Nord Stream 2.



5) Methinks, thou doeth protesteth too much.



6) That is Putin's problem. I am a Trumpista, even though some would consider it a strange kind of Trumpista. I am not a Putinista, even though you may insist I should be one.

My whole point has been that it makes sense, actually it is paramount fromt the Russian point of view- not just Putin's- that Russia avoid Ukraine as transit for her gas. The bottom line is both are likely to go to war, or more accurately Russia will pounce on a bit of Ukraine in the near or distant future. And that may not change whether Russia is a dictatorship or a democracy. Keep in mind that even the meek and mild, sissy Gorbachev came out in support of Putin's seizure of Crimea.

1) Putin & the Kremlin Mafia are blackmailing Europe. It is as I have indicated emphatically and extensively, ie, the Bismarck Imperative of a Russo-German Axis to lord over Europe & Eurasia. Poland calls this long planned Russo-German Axis of Energy the new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. While that would be accurate, I'd call it what it is in present terms, ie, the Putin-Merkel Pact.


2) Ukraine's motives are defensive against Putin's neo-imperial policies, purposes, goals. Putin refers to Ukraine as "Little Russia" and he means to have it as his own.


3) See #1 & #2 plse thx.


4) A dictator is a dictator is a dictator.


5) I stated the EU Commission rules and regs that pertain to Nord Stream 2 and that Putin & the Kremlin Mafia are scheming to avoid by blackmailing Europe by leveraging and manipulating gas supplies and winter reserves -- and prices that suddenly have tripled -- for the immediate straight on approval of NS2 without the EU rule of law that would deny Gazprom the existing and planned monopoly that NS2 is.


6) You are a PutinTrumpRower. You support Putin in all things and completely so. It's what PutinTrumpRowers do.


Putin's scheme to blackmail the EU & NATO that he is currently pressing is exactly and precisely as critics always said he would do. He's wasted no time at it either. No moss growing under Putin's feet eh. You PutinTrumpRowers have become open and strident about it besides. Indications are strong however that neither EU nor NATO will cave on this.

 

[Tangmo]

Pardon me for reckoning the damage not just by difficulty restoring the flow of gas, and "bad blood." I tend to reckon actual blood: lives put in peril.

I won't bother trying to spell it out any more for you. Some people don't care about human lives, and good luck to them. Their day will come.

That's commendable. No pardon needed. Not anyway unless we're getting self righteousness only.

Because stomping your feet and wagging your finger is dubious at best.

You're right to leave the fighting to the fighters thx. You'd only get in the way.

 

[Tangmo]

Here the CEO of Ukraine's largest energy company provides data that documents Putin's loud and blatant attempts to blackmail Europe and NATO into approving the Russo-German Geostrategic gas pipeline Nord Stream 2. Yuri Vetrenko is responding to Putin's transparent denials that he is leveraging and manipulating energy prices across Europe by reducing the flow of gas or more often, deliberately failing to meet demand for it.

Kremlin meantime has spent September and October making several statements daily the pipeline is ready to go and can be expected to begin operating "in the coming days."

However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Gazprom still needs to take the necessary first steps toward complying with EU legal requirements in order to begin operating the pipeline. Gazprom is trying to evade EU anti monopoly legal restrictions on pipelines by blackmailing EU into immediate and unconditional approval of NS2.

Putin is nervous that gas blackmail failed​

and Nord Stream 2 not yet launched - Naftogaz CEO​

Russian President Vladimir Putin is nervous because Nord Stream 2 has not yet been launched, despite the gas blackmail he has arranged in Europe. “Putin is nervous because he understands that this blackmail, which he launched across Europe, is not working, and he is unable to launch Nord Stream 2. Precisely because we are proving to everyone that Putin is using gas as a weapon," Head of NJSC Naftogaz-Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko said.

In this context, he drew attention to the reduction in daily volumes of Russian gas transit through the Ukrainian gas transportation system. In particular, last year Gazprom booked 65 billion cubic meters of gas for transit via Ukraine, while this year only 40 billion cubic meters, which is more than one and a half times less. As for the daily volumes of gas transit, they have halved: at the beginning of the year there were 182 million cubic meters of gas, and now less than one hundred million, about 80 million cubic meters of gas. Meanwhile, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be ready for launch in the coming days, and the pipeline is being filled with gas. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak.

Putin is nervous that gas blackmail failed and Nord Stream 2 not yet launched,- Naftogaz CEO

In this context, he drew attention to the reduction in daily volumes of Russian gas transit via the Ukrainian gas transportation system

112.international

The German regulator says it is waiting for the comment period to conclude so that it can consider the views of EU member states toward the required pipeline certifications. The regulator has until mid January to decide on certifications. EU will then examine the decision of the German regulator for a final decision on the entire project.

 

[Tangmo]

The sinister and geostrategic purpose of Putin's campaign of blackmail against EU is to get Nord Stream 2 approved immediately and unconditionally and thereby blast through EU legal requirements for pipelines originating from non EU member countries, which Russia certainly is.

It is another instance of Putin's lawlessness. Indeed, Putin's attempts to blackmail EU has had no effect to date yet it is exactly the geostrategic leverage Putin gets over EU & NATO and that critics have been warning against. Putin wasted no time about it either.

EU Gas Directive fully applies to Nord Stream 2 – European Commission president​

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (right) said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and European Council President Charles Michel (left behind) following the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv last week.


The EU Gas Directive, which establishes European gas market rules for all pipelines entering the EU from third countries, fully applies to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Council President Charles Michel following the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv. "As we have repeatedly stressed, the 2019 Gas Directive, the third Energy Package, fully applies to Nord Stream 2. For the Commission, what is clear is that Ukraine remains and must remain a reliable transit country," von der Leyen said.

The Ukrainian government called the current abnormally high gas prices in Europe a lever of pressure from Russia to speed up Nord Stream 2 certification and to remove the pipeline from the effect of the EU Gas Directive. On September 10, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom announced the completion of the gas pipeline built from Russia to Germany bypassing Ukraine on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The only shareholder in the project is Gazprom.

EU Gas Directive fully applies to Nord Stream 2 – European Commission president

The EU Gas Directive, which establishes European gas market rules for all pipelines entering the EU from third countries, including in matters of de-monopolization and third party access to their operation, fully applies to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. — Ukrinform.

www.ukrinform.net

The anti monopoly EU Gas Directive requires Gazprom to use only 50% of the undersea pipelines gas capacity. Gazprom must auction off the other 50% capacity use to a provider completely unconnected to Gazprom.

The EU Third Energy Package further includes the requirement that the provider Gazprom and the company that transits the gas through the pipelines, which is also Gazprom, along with the distributor of the gas to consumers, Gazprom again, be three separate, different, unconnected companies that are unrelated. As it is, Gazprom has the monopoly of all three functions.

While Putin & the Kremlin Mafia are willing to take NS2 investment deferrals and even losses in return for a powerful geostrategic advantage over EU & NATO, the EU anti monopoly rules and regs cause a huge hit to Gazproms return on its NS2 investment (eur 12bn and counting).

Gazprom says the EU anti monopoly provisions would result in a NS2 "investment ruin." Indeed, Gazprom says the EU anti monopoly rules are designed to "torpedo" the pipeline under the Baltic. This is as correct as Gazprom has ever been, rare as Gazprom being correct is. The only EU country that insists on this pipeline is Germany led by Merkel from its start.

 

[Tangmo]

Putin's campaign of blackmail against EU is to get Nord Stream 2 approved immediately and unconditionally and thereby blast through EU legal requirements for pipelines originating from non EU member countries, which Russia certainly is.

Here Putin reneged on his statement he would increase supply to meet the increased demand. The auction in Netherlands revealed no increase of gas supply by Gazprom that includes Putin and the Kremlin Mafia.

U.K., Europe natural gas prices see spike on fading hopes of more Gazprom supplies​

Natural gas prices in the U.K. and Europe briefly spiked on Monday, after a report that Russia's Gazprom may not send more supplies as expected following recent comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. European natural gas futures climbed to 107.70 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) before easing back to 94.82 euros, with similar rollercoaster moves seen for U.K. futures. That's after a closely watched pipeline capacity auction on Monday showed no rise in supplies, according to media reports on Monday.

The pipelines run through the Ukraine and Poland. Putin recently said he would help Europe with its pipeline shortages, but some accuse his country of trying to weaponize natural gas supplies to speed up EU approval of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The U.K. and Europe are heavily reliant on Russia for natural gas supplies, and prices have been soaring this year in part due to higher demand.

U.K., Europe natural gas prices see spike on fading hopes of more Gazprom supplies

Natural gas prices in the U.K. and Europe briefly spiked on Monday, after a report that Russia's Gazprom may not send more supplies as expected following...

www.marketwatch.com

Kremlin Mafia has moreover not replenished the EU gas reserve since the summer, resulting in reserves in Europe/Ukraine at only 60% going into the winter months. Ukraine btw has the largest storage facilities in Europe, in underground giant holding tanks.

Putin is actively working unrelentingly to blackmail Europe on NS2 even before the pipeline can be certified to begin operating. Imagine Putin with this strong power and leverage if the pipeline is certified to begin operations by the German economy regulator and then by the EU which has the final say. Putin with Germany will own Europe and NATO member states throughout Europe. Which is why starting in 2019 EU enacted its gas anti monopoly rules to counter this ever occurring.

 

[Tangmo]

Sen. Ted Cruz who is the leading force in the Congress against NS2 remains hopping mad at Potus Biden for lifting the U.S. sanctions Congress and Trump had imposed beginning in December 2019 and that had kept the Kremlin's pipeline construction idle up to December last year.

As of last December Putin had painfully assembled a rustbucket construction flotilla of Russian ships with German support services to resume construction, slow and dubious as it was. Biden lifted sanctions this past spring, thus enabling completion of the 100 remaining miles of the pipeline to German shores last month.

Cruz then and since has placed a hold on Senate confirmation of Biden nominees to sub cabinet positions in three departments mainly.

Cruz has holds on almost two dozen Biden nominees to the State Department.

He has holds on almost two dozen nominees to the Treasury Department.

And Cruz has holds on another two dozen nominees to Department of Defense.

Cruz wants Biden to reimpose the sanctions Biden waived in the spring. While the leading Democrat against NS2 Sen .Jeanne Shaheen of NH remains insistent the sanctions be reinstated, she is not participating in any holds on Biden nominees. Indeed, the WH said the other day Cruz's holds are "creating chaos" in the government.

With pipeline construction completed Biden continues to have sanctions he can reimpose. Biden can sanction any insurer of the pipeline and any certifying firm that might give the stamp of approval to Gazprom with regulators in Germany and in Brussels. However, no legit insurer and no legit certifying firm will go near the completed pipeline anyway. Zurich pulling out early this year was a big enough message to insurers everywhere. Norway Det Norske Veritas-Germanischer Lloyd that is the global premier risk management firm and technical adviser of undersea pipelines grabbed its hardhat and split the past January and took its German partner with it. All that's left are Russians in the Kremlin.

The locus of the Russo-German Nord Stream 2 fight against EU and NATO has anyway shifted almost completely to the European Commission that is against the project, the EU courts that have ruled consistently against Gazprom and the German courts that also have ruled against Gazprom. The Kremlin has to overcome or blow away via blackmail the EU Commission's anti monopoly rules and regs that are designed to stop the unneeded project from transiting gas and distributing it in overland pipelines in Europe.

Hence Gazprom "investment ruin."

Methinks Biden knew this when he lifted the sanctions to improve relations with U.S. ally Germany and to ease EU criticisms of U.S. extra territorial sanctions against European firms large, medium, small. Biden also knew the Greens who oppose the pipeline absolutely would very likely be in the new government post the September 26th federal election. Now also there's the added bonus of FDP that opposes the pipeline too.

 

[german hick]

I changed my mind on that matter a bit, but I have an honest question:

Doesn´t it have any smell for you that your main protagonist is the senator of Texas - the fuel state of the USA wich might benefit comercially if the European gas supplies from Russia are minimized?

That was for me the main reason to not take the factual risks of dependency as serious as they might be.

 

[Chagos]

I changed my mind on that matter a bit, but I have an honest question:

Doesn´t it have any smell for you that your main protagonist is the senator of Texas - the fuel state of the USA wich might benefit comercially if the European gas supplies from Russia are minimized?

That was for me the main reason to not take the factual risks of dependency as serious as they might be.

The whole thing certainly has a smell and that smell is coming from all directions. In such instances I always work on the premise of "follow the money" and here on "follow all those who hope to gain the most money".

That those in the US gas business (and the politicos they pressurize) are interested in filling any gap that a defunct NS2 might leave, is a reasonable assumption.

That Putin wants the damn thing running so as to fill his rapidly emptying coffers is just as reasonable an assumption.

That Schwesig, Meck-Poms Minister-President, wants to fluff her business friends up there is no surprise either.

And that the whole sorry bunch engage in Godfather tactics ("I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse") is as little surprising as it is despicable.

As sentiments go, I personally would have the whole bunch hanged or, to avoid such draconian measures, at least publicly flogged.

But I'm not really interested in the shenanigans of any of those opportunistic crooks, the main issue is that gas deliveries from wherever become a thing of the past as soon as possible. Won't happen in my time and probably not in yours, but the way forward is to work towards reaching as much independence from fossils as possible.

It'll be interesting to see Baerbock fold on the NS2 issue if Scholz and Lindner insist on its operation. I doubt the Greens will risk the coalition talks to fail by remaining adamant on this issue.

 

[Juin]

1) Putin & the Kremlin Mafia are blackmailing Europe. It is as I have indicated emphatically and extensively, ie, the Bismarck Imperative of a Russo-German Axis to lord over Europe & Eurasia. Poland calls this long planned Russo-German Axis of Energy the new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. While that would be accurate, I'd call it what it is in present terms, ie, the Putin-Merkel Pact.


2) Ukraine's motives are defensive against Putin's neo-imperial policies, purposes, goals. Putin refers to Ukraine as "Little Russia" and he means to have it as his own.


3) See #1 & #2 plse thx.


4) A dictator is a dictator is a dictator.


5) I stated the EU Commission rules and regs that pertain to Nord Stream 2 and that Putin & the Kremlin Mafia are scheming to avoid by blackmailing Europe by leveraging and manipulating gas supplies and winter reserves -- and prices that suddenly have tripled -- for the immediate straight on approval of NS2 without the EU rule of law that would deny Gazprom the existing and planned monopoly that NS2 is.


6) You are a PutinTrumpRower. You support Putin in all things and completely so. It's what PutinTrumpRowers do.


Putin's scheme to blackmail the EU & NATO that he is currently pressing is exactly and precisely as critics always said he would do. He's wasted no time at it either. No moss growing under Putin's feet eh. You PutinTrumpRowers have become open and strident about it besides. Indications are strong however that neither EU nor NATO will cave on this.

You sure do feel strongly about it. lol Almost quite shrill, as a matter of fact. It is a game of poker. It always has been. Ukraine is the pawn. Always has been. You should calm down. There are other pawns in this game of poker besides Ukraine and Nord Stream 2. And Putin is not the only vile character sitting at the table. Stepan Banderas, or his manifestations are also licking their chops in Kiev. And you, sir, are hardly a Saint in this matter.

There is a big hole in all your shrieks. Which you do not address. Why should Russia- democracy or not- use as transit for her gas an enemy state like Ukraine?

As long as you whistle past that all your tomes are nonsense.

 

[Juin]

I changed my mind on that matter a bit, but I have an honest question:

Doesn´t it have any smell for you that your main protagonist is the senator of Texas - the fuel state of the USA wich might benefit comercially if the European gas supplies from Russia are minimized?

That was for me the main reason to not take the factual risks of dependency as serious as they might be.

Interesting. I never thought about that. Ted Cruz has so well garbed himself in the mantle of Saviour of Ukraine and Eastern Europe from the revanchist Russian Federation that I forgot that he had some big gas interests of his own to protect! Ted has a dog in the fight! Who would have thought! And it makes perfect sense.