REUTERS
The bill imposing sanctions on companies involved in the project has been submitted to the House of Representatives.
The United States Congress is expanding work on introducing economic sanctions aimed at opposing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine.
In particular, the House of Representatives received for consideration another bill against companies involved in the project, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev wrote on Facebook.
"The U.S. Congress is expanding work on sanctions against Nord Stream 2. A few weeks ago, U.S. legislators registered a bill on sanctions against persons involved in the construction of this pipeline in the upper house of Congress. Yesterday, a bill similar in content, No.HR3206, also went to the lower chamber," he wrote.
Kobolyev stressed that these documents are seeing wide bipartisan support in both houses. Kobolyev noted that Naftogaz was also making ultimate diplomatic efforts in countering the Kremlin project.
"We cooperate with both American and European legislators and government officials, developing joint ways to counter the construction of Nord Stream 2, which represents a significant threat to international energy security," he wrote.
Read alsoSchroeder says U.S. pressure on Denmark main reason for Nord Stream 2 delay – Reuters
As UNIAN reported earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was considering sanctions over Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project – which the United States has told European companies to avoid – and warned Germany against being dependent on Russia for the fuel.
On June 3, the United States Congress published a bill imposing sanctions with respect to the provision of certain vessels for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines, including Nord Stream2, and for other purposes.
UNIAN memo. The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction and operation of two gas pipeline branches with a total throughput capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. It should connect Russia's Ust-Luga and Germany's Greifswald.
This new pipeline bypassing Ukraine is to be built next to the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The construction of the pipeline should be completed before the end of 2019. The length of the pipeline will be 1,220 km.
The project is being implemented by Russia's Gazprom in alliance with European companies – ENGIE, Uniper, OMV, Shell, and Wintershall.
Finland and Sweden have issued permissions to lay the pipe in their territorial waters while Denmark has not made granted such permission move so far.
Ukraine stands against the construction of Nord Stream 2 as it will most likely lose its status of a gas transit country and its possible revenue losses are estimated at billions of U.S. dollars. The project is also highly criticized by Poland and the Baltic countries.