23rd February, 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
“Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Germany on Tuesday halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany.
The decision was announced after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Europe’s most divisive energy project, worth $11 billion, was finished in September, but has stood idle pending certification by Germany and the European Union.
The pipeline had been set to ease the pressure on European consumers facing record energy prices amid a wider post-pandemic cost of living crisis, and on governments that have already forked out billions to try to cushion the impact on consumers.
But on Tuesday the European benchmark gas price, currently the Dutch March contract , was up 9.8% at 78.95 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 1607 GMT, much like the price for the fourth quarter , when Nord Stream 2 had been expected to start.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now deputy chairman of its Security Council, tried to rub salt in that wound.
“Welcome to the new world where Europeans will soon have to pay 2,000 euros per thousand cubic metres!” he tweeted – suggesting prices were set to double.
President Vladimir Putin did pledge, however, that Russia would not interrupt any of its existing gas supplies. read more
The Kremlin hoped the delay of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 would be temporary, Interfax news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Germany gets half its gas from Russia and had argued that Nord Stream 2 was primarily a commercial project to diversify energy supplies for Europe.