U.S. Close to Imposing Sanctions on European Companies in Russian Pipeline Project

• The article below by Foreign Policy leaves out an important fact about the Nord Stream 2 project: it makes NO ECONOMIC SENSE for Europeans to buy American gas, shipped via LNG carriers to Europe at 2-3 times the price of Russian gas.
  –
  No need for Europe to buy US gas at triple the price, will continue imports from Russia – Austria
  by https://www.rt.com/, 5 June 2018
  The US is force-feeding Europe its liquefied natural gas, which is three times more expensive that buying it from Russia, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said after signing a gas-supply contract with Moscow until 2040.
  –
  While US politicians are accusing Europe of being dependent on Russian gas, they forget that “American liquefied gas is two or three times more expensive than Russian gas. Under such circumstances, it makes little sense in purely economic terms to replace Russian gas with American LNG,” Van der Bellen said at a press conference after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vienna on Tuesday.
  –
  read more.
  –
  See also: Why American LNG is no substitute for Russian gas in Europe
  –
• U.S. Close to Imposing Sanctions on European Companies in Russian Pipeline Project
  by ROBBIE GRAMER, KEITH JOHNSON, DAN DE LUCE, http://foreignpolicy.com/, 1 June 2018
  The decision would test already fraught relations with Germany, other allies.
  –
  The Trump administration is edging closer to imposing sanctions on energy companies from Germany and other European countries in a bid to scuttle the construction of a politically contentious Russian gas pipeline across the Baltic, according to three sources familiar with the issue.
  –
  Officials are still looking at other ways to block to project, known as Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline project meant to bring Russian gas into the heart of Europe. But key figures in the administration now view sanctions as an increasingly likely option.
  –
  The measure would add yet more tension to the relationship between the United States and Germany, where officials are already fuming over President Donald Trump’s punitive moves on trade, his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and other issues.
  –
  “They will stop at nothing to block Nord Stream,” one of the sources said, referring to members of the Trump White House. Successive administrations opposed the pipeline since it was first broached in 2015, fearing it would undercut Ukraine in its lucrative middle-man position for energy flows between Russia and Europe. Congress passed a bill last summer making sanctions possible.
  –
  Many Central and Eastern European countries also oppose the project, which they fear will tighten Moscow’s energy stranglehold on Europe by doubling the amount of natural gas that flows directly from Russia to Germany.
  –
  The State Department would not respond directly to the matter but said companies working on the project were doing so at their own peril. “We have been clear that firms working in the Russian energy export pipeline sector are engaging in a line of business that carries sanctions risk,” a State Department spokeswoman said.
  –
  Trump has complained that Berlin is spending billions of dollars on the pipeline while refusing to earmark more money for defense. (In fact, the cost of the project would be borne by private companies, not public funds.) He has also criticized Germany repeatedly for its trade practices.
  –
  The friction was apparent during German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s visit to Washington last week, which included tense exchanges between officials from both sides — over the Iran nuclear deal, trade, and the Nord Stream project.

end