Germany's Uniper may withdraw from Nord Stream 2 fearing U.S. sanctions

nord-stream2 Axel Schmidt Germany’s energy giant Uniper does not rule out withdrawing from the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project over the U.S. sanctions that could be imposed on Russia. Uniper CFO Christopher Delbrueck said "Uniper surely cannot take any risks falling under U.S. sanctions as this would mean the company&#39;s exclusion from international payment transactions turnover and inability to use the U.S. dollars in trade. Uniper cannot allow this in principle," Deutsche Welle reported citing Finanznachrichten. "However, the company hopes that everyone would remain reasonable in the current situation," Delbrueck said. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, consecutive U.S. administrations have long opposed the pipeline, which would run alongside an existing one, over concerns that it would increase Europe’s already-high dependence on Russian natural gas and give the Kremlin political leverage and substantial revenues. One concern about the pipeline is that it could make it easier for Russia to stop delivering natural gas via Ukraine after Gazprom’s transit contract expires at the end of 2019. The country, which has been locked in a bitter conflict with Moscow since Russian troops seized part of its territory in 2014, currently acts as a transit country for Russian natural-gas exports to the EU and levies a fee on this trade. The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of two strings of a gas pipeline running from the Russian coast via the Baltic Sea to Germany. The construction completion of a 1,220-km long pipeline worth EUR 9.5 billion with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year is scheduled for late 2019.

Germany's Uniper may withdraw from Nord Stream 2 fearing U.S. sanctions

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