Russia urges US not to equate politics with Nord Stream 2 project

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Photo: TASS

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said his country urged the United States not to mix the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with political activities.

Novak visited Washington on June 26 to attend the World Gas Conference. During the visit, the Russian minister met with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to discuss Nord Stream 2, among other issues.

“I have expressed my view that Nord Stream 2 is a project that will bring economic benefits to Europe, benefit European consumers and be implemented by European companies together with Gazprom,” he said.

“And of course, to ensure Europe's energy security and to satisfy Europe's demand for environmentally friendly energy sources in the long term, the implementation of such infrastructure projects should be based on economics, without political judgments,” he said.

“As they said, we exchanged views. We will continue to discuss this issue, because Secretary Perry and I agreed to maintain contact,” Novak added.

After the United States became a net importer of natural gas for the first time in 60 years due to the development of the liquefied natural gas sector, Washington began to threaten Russia with sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project to Europe. European and Russian officials have repeatedly stated that the US sanctions policy is aimed at forcing Russia out of the European energy market and boosting its own LNG supplies. The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) allows the US to impose unilateral sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 project.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that Russia would welcome European participation in the Nord Stream 2 project. He named France's Total as one of the potential partners.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come online by the end of 2019. It will run from the Russian coast along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the German coast. Each of the two branches of the pipeline will have a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters. The new pipeline, which is expected to connect Russia's resource base to European customers, will double the capacity of the first pipeline and will essentially follow the same route. Nord Stream 2 is expected to cost around 9.5 billion euros to build.

The pipeline will run through Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and several other countries, and will pass through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries: Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.