The construction of NordStream 2 has resumed, according to the USA it will never be completed

The construction of Nord Stream 2 has resumed, according to the USA it will never be completed

The construction of the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 resumed after about a year. The United States, which is threatening sanctions for companies involved in the project, wants to prevent the completion of a large part of the completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The US claims that Nord Stream 2 will never be completed. It continued construction of a gas pipeline about 70 kilometers northeast of Lubmin, which lies near Greifswald, the Fortuna pipeline ship, flying the Russian flag, a company spokesman told the German news agency DPA. There, a 2.6-kilometer-long section of the gas pipeline should be laid in Germany's exclusive economic zone. The permit for the construction of this part will expire at the end of 2020. Nord Stream 2 AG has already applied for a new permit to continue construction in 2021. However, the US government sees no chance of completing the pipeline. A senior US government official told DPA that the Nord Stream 2 consortium had made the construction of the 2.6-kilometer section a big deal. He added that it is a "pipeline that will never transport Russian gas". "If Nord Stream 2 could actually complete the project, it would have done so long ago." Up to 55 billion cubic meters (m3) of gas should be transported annually from Russia to Europe via two lines, each 1,200 kilometers long of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The project, worth around € 9.5 billion, is already 94% complete, with around 75 kilometers to be completed, mainly south of the Danish island of Bornholm. Construction stopped at the end of 2019. Due to US sanctions, both Swiss pipeline ships left the project. The US Congress has previously passed the European Energy Security Act (PEESA), despite criticism from Germany and Russia. The US has also threatened sanctions against the German port of Sassnitz-Mukran in Rügen, where the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is stored. The US has been trying for a long time to stop the project definitively, claiming that the pipeline will increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas too much. Critics, on the other hand, say the US just wants to import more liquefied gas into Europe. However, some Member States of the European Union (EU), especially Poland and the Baltic countries, also opposed the pipeline. The US continues to put pressure on companies involved in the project. The US Senate also passed a defense spending bill after the House of Representatives on Friday, which also provides for an extension of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project. The United States can now ban people involved in the project, as well as freeze their assets and companies in the USA. The US Embassy in Germany recently called on the federal government to prevent construction from continuing. A senior US government official in Washington called Nord Stream 2 a "geopolitical project that Russia will use to blackmail European countries." Moscow sees political sanctions and an effort to push Russian gas out of the European market behind Washington's sanctions against the project. The Kremlin says the pipeline will be completed. For its completion, Russia sent two special ships to the Baltic Sea, in addition to the aforementioned Fortuna, also the ship Akademik Chersky. Shares of the Russian gas concern Gazprom, which will use the pipeline, reached the highest level since July on the Moscow Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon. In addition to one Gazprom subsidiary, the project's investors include the German corporations Wintershall Dea and Uniper, the Dutch-British concern Shell, the Austrian company OMV and the French Engie.