Nord Stream 2 pipeline
- United States and Germany reached an agreement to allow completion of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline
- The pipeline has been a thorny, long-standing point of contention between the otherwise stalwart allies.
- The agreement reached between the two aims to invest more than 200 million euros in energy security in Ukraine as well as sustainable energy across Europe.
Nord Stream Pipeline
- It is a 1,200 kilometre offshore twin pipeline system running through the Baltic Sea, from Russia to Germany.
- It was completed in 2012
- It has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas, and directly connects Russia’s gas fields with Germany’s mainland and Europe’s gas infrastructure.
- Russian energy giant Gazprom holds a majority stake (51 percent) in it, and is responsible for the pipeline’s operation.
Nord Stream 2
- It’s a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) under-construction pipeline
- It will run along with the already completed Nord Stream 1 system,
- The two together will supply an aggregate of 110 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany per year. The pipeline falls in the territory of EU members Germany and Denmark, and is about 98% complete.
- Nord Stream 2 will help Germany secure a relatively low-cost supply of gas at a time when European producers are reducing output.
- It’s also part of Gazprom’s decades-long effort to diversify its exports to Europe as the region moves away from nuclear and coal.
U.S. Involvement:
- The U.S. has asserted that the new export route would make its allies in Europe overly dependent on Russian energy supplies.
- Under the US-Germany agreement, if Russia attempted to use energy as an economic weapon or commit aggression against Ukraine, Germany would take action itself while also pressing for measures at the European level, including sanctions to limit Russia’s energy exports.
- The U.S. and Germany will also seek to promote investments of at least $1 billion in a so-called Green Fund to help Ukraine’s transition to cleaner sources of energy.
- Germany has committed to an initial $175 million investment in the fund.