Posts under ‘Gazprom’

Gazprom, Shell ink strategic cooperation agreement

The agreement was signed in the videoconference mode in presence of chief executive officers of Gazprom and Shell

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Gazprom and Shell concluded the agreement on strategic cooperation for the term of five years on March 16, the Russian gas holding says on Tuesday.

“Particular attention will be paid, for instance, to such areas as studies of energy market, implementation of projects throughout the value creation chain, and cooperation in the sphere of digital development of technologies and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” Gazprom says. read more

Russia’s Gazprom, Shell ink 5-year ‘strategic’ deal

By New Europe Online/KG: PUBLISHED 21:57 MARCH 17, 2021

Gazprom and Royal Dutch Shell signed on March 16 an Agreement of Strategic Cooperation for a five-year period, the Russian gas giant said.

The signing ceremony was held via a video link in the presence of Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Shell CEO Ben van Beurden.

The newly signed document, which expands the interaction between the two companies, focuses on research of energy markets, implementation of projects along the entire value chain, cooperation in digitalization of technologies, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Gazprom said. read more

Russia’s Gazprom signs strategic cooperation agreement with Shell

By Reuters Staff: MARCH 16, 20212:48 PM

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian gas producer Gazprom has signed a five-year strategic cooperation agreement with Shell, it said on Tuesday.

The cooperation will include exploring energy markets, “projects along the entire value chain”, digitalisation of technologies and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Gazprom said.

Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by David Goodman

SOURCE read more

Why the World Worries About Russia’s Nord Stream Pipeline

Gazprom owns the project operator, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors contributing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.6 billion) cost. By Dina Khrennikova and Anna Shiryaevskaya | Bloomberg: Feb. 25, 2021 A natural gas pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea from Russia to the German coast is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, fuels worries in the U.S. and other countries that the link could give the Kremlin new leverage over Germany and other NATO allies. Pipe construction, halted in 2019, resumed in December 2020, yet U.S. sanctions still threaten to pull the brakes on the project backed by the Russia’s Gazprom PJSC.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline that will double the capacity of the existing undersea route from Russian fields to Europe — the original Nord Stream — which opened in 2011. Gazprom owns the project operator, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors contributing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.6 billion) cost. Initially expected to come online by the end of 2019, the link has been delayed by U.S. sanctions that forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels when all but 160 kilometers of the link was in place. When Nord Stream 2 started construction again, Russian vessels were deployed to lay 2.6 kilometers in Germany’s exclusive economic zone. In January 2021 work resumed on the Danish section. read more

Why Gazprom’s $7.6 Billion Nord Stream 2 Fine Is Just the Start

Stephanie Bodoni and Maciej Martewicz

Oct 9. 2020

(Bloomberg) — Poland’s antitrust watchdog slapped a $7.6 billion fine on Gazprom PJSC over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, opening a new front in the bitter political battle over the natural gas project. Wednesday’s surprise move raises a whole set of legal questions about the plan, which is teetering on the brink. What was the fine for? The antitrust authority said Gazprom and its partners, which which is teetering on the brink. read more

U.S. sanctions… forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels

Why the World Worries About Russia’s Natural Gas Pipeline

By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Dina Khrennikova | Bloomberg: Oct. 8, 2020 A natural gas pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea from Russia to the German coast is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, fuels worries in the U.S. and other countries that the link could give the Kremlin new leverage over Germany and other NATO allies. As the project neared completion, U.S. sanctions and calls for European restrictions, as well as a Polish move to fine Russia’s Gazprom PJSC on antitrust grounds, have left the construction in limbo and ratcheted up political tensions.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline that will double the capacity of the existing undersea route from Russian fields to Europe — the original Nord Stream — which opened in 2011. Gazprom owns the joint Russian-European venture, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors contributing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.2 billion) cost. Initially expected to come online by the end of 2019, the link has been delayed by U.S. sanctions that forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels. The pipeline operator is looking for solutions to lay the remaining 6% of the pipe, which includes construction work in Denmark’s waters. read more

(Shell may have to write off Nord Stream 2 investment if project collapses)

Merkel Scrapping Nord Stream Would Unravel German Gas Strategy

Brian Parkin, Andrew Noël and Richard Weiss: Bloomberg: September 12, 2020

(Bloomberg) — As Angela Merkel weighs up the arguments for scrapping a Russian pipeline project, a cornerstone of the German chancellor’s carefully crafted energy strategy is at stake.

Merkel is coming under increasing pressure to ditch the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Members of her own party have questioned the project and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the decision should be a “no brainer.” read more

Why the World Worries About Russia’s Natural Gas Pipeline By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Dina Khrennikova | Bloomberg September 4, 2020 at 3:26 p.m. GMT+1

A natural gas pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea from Russia to the German coast is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, fuels worries in the U.S. and other countries that the link could give the Kremlin new leverage over Germany and other NATO allies. As the project neared completion, U.S. sanctions and calls for European restrictions have left the construction in limbo as political tensions with Moscow mounted.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline that will double the capacity of the existing undersea route from Russian fields to Europe — the original Nord Stream — which opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the joint Russian-European venture, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors contributing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.2 billion) cost. Initially expected to come online by the end of 2019, the link has been delayed by U.S. sanctions that forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels. The pipeline operator is looking for solutions to lay the remaining 6% of the pipe, which includes construction work in Denmark’s waters. read more

Navalny Poisoning Raises Pressure on Merkel to Cancel Russian Pipeline

Evidence that the Russian opposition leader was attacked with a military-grade nerve agent has placed new pressures on the German chancellor.

By Steven Erlanger and Melissa Eddy: Published Sept. 3, 2020 Updated Sept. 4, 2020, 1:34 a.m. ET 

BRUSSELS — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has long defended her decision to go ahead with an $11 billion Russian gas pipeline, sticking to her position that politics and business should remain separate.

But that approach came under intense pressure Thursday, with a Russian dissident in a German hospital, poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent that is held closely by the Russian military. Even some members of her own party insisted that the chancellor should respond by canceling the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

The 764-mile pair of pipelines under the Baltic Sea is being built by a consortium led by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which owns it, and would double the capacity for natural gas to flow directly from Russia to Germany. It has been criticized by many in Europe and the United States for increasing Russian leverage on Germany and helping to line the pockets of the Russian state.

But the pipeline is 94 percent completed, and Ms. Merkel defended the need to finish it as recently as last Friday. At that point, Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was already in Berlin for treatment of a poisoning in Russia, although the use of the nerve agent, Novichok, had not yet been publicly confirmed.

But with the identification of Novichok as the poison, the debate on the pipeline has now been reopened.

For a long time, Ms. Merkel has advocated trade and diplomatic engagement with both Russia and China despite their internal repressions and external aggressiveness. Her argument has been that Russia is too close to Europe, and China too economically powerful, to isolate either of them, and that trade provides leverage on them that sanctions do not.

It is getting harder for her to have it both ways. German foreign policy has been notably more assertive to Russia after the country seized Crimea and shot down a Malaysian airliner, and to China after its increasing boldness and repression at home and abroad under its leader, Xi Jinping.

And so Nord Stream 2, originally promoted by her coalition partners, the Social Democrats, is becoming harder to defend, given that its owner, Gazprom, is controlled by the Kremlin of President Vladimir V. Putin. More Germans are asking how she — and many other European leaders — can portray Russia as a rogue nation in one breath and a legitimate commercial partner in the next?

On Thursday, Norbert Röttgen, a senior member of the chancellor’s conservative party and the head of the foreign affairs committee in Parliament, who has long been critical of Nord Stream 2, called for Germany to respond to the poisoning with tough measures that could include the pipeline and Russia’s sales of natural gas. read more

The Guardian: Merkel pressured to end Nord Stream 2 support after Navalny poisoning

Philip Oltermann in Berlin and Luke Harding

Thu 3 Sep 2020 17.30 BST

Angela Merkel is under growing domestic pressure to end her support for the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over the confirmed poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The German Green party called on the chancellor to use the nearly completed infrastructure project to press the Kremlin into answering allegations over what Merkel called the “silencing” of Navalny with a novichok nerve agent. read more

Shell may have to write off Nord Stream 2 investment if project collapses

Calls mount for Germany to rethink Nord Stream 2 pipeline after Navalny poisoning

Madeline Chambers: SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing pressure on Thursday to reconsider the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will take gas from Russia to Germany, after she said Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style nerve agent.

Merkel said on Wednesday that Navalny, who is being treated in a Berlin hospital, was the victim of a murder attempt using the nerve agent Novichok, and demanded an explanation by Russia.

Moscow has denied involvement in the incident and the Russian foreign ministry said Germany’s assertion was not backed by evidence.

Western countries have condemned the attack on Navalny and many German politicians want a tough response. read more

Uniper may have to write down Nord Stream 2 loan if the pipeline fails

* Uniper is a financial backer of Nord Stream 2 project

* Risk of non-completion is increasing

* Uniper has committed to fund up to 950 mln eur (Adds CEO comments, details on Nord Stream 2 financing)

By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff: AUGUST 11, 2020

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Aug 11 (Reuters) – German utility Uniper on Tuesday said it may have to impair a loan provided to the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if the project collapses in the face of U.S. sanctions. read more

Russia Looks To Lure Shell Into New Arctic Oil Project

By Simon Watkins – Aug 10, 2020, 4:00 PM CDT

Central now to Russia’s hydrocarbons-related power is its Arctic sector oil and gas reserves. These comprise over 35,700 billion cubic metres of natural gas and over 2,300 million metric tons of oil and condensate, principally located in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas. According to recent comments from Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, the next 10-15 years will witness a dramatic expansion in the extraction of these Arctic resources, and a build-out of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as the main transport route to monetise these resources in the global hydrocarbons markets. To these ends, last week saw the announcement of a joint venture (JV) between Russia’s third biggest oil company by output and the oil arm of state gas giant Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, and Anglo-Dutch super-major, Royal Dutch Shell (Shell). read more

By Stanley Reed and Lara Jakes: July 24, 2020, 4:38 a.m. ET

A hulking Russian pipe-laying vessel called the Akademik Cherskiy can be seen off Germany’s Baltic coast these days, marine tracking sites say, apparently waiting for the chance to complete the final stretches of a massive undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas directly to Germany from Russia.

The Trump administration, though, is trying to keep the pipeline, known as Nord Stream 2, on ice. Last week, the State Department moved to potentially impose economic penalties on investors and other business participants in the project, an expansion of existing sanctions. read more

Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Shell launch JV for hydrocarbon development

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft on Tuesday said it had signed an agreement with Shell to establish a joint venture to develop a large-scale hydrocarbon cluster on the Gydan peninsula in Siberia.

The deal is scheduled to close in 2020, Gazprom Neft said, after which both partners will have a 50% share in the venture.

Reporting by Maxim Rodionov and Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Louise Heavens read more

Pompeo Warns Energy Majors Over New Russian Gas Pipelines

“Get out now or risk the consequences,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said at the State Department on Wednesday.

Maarten Wetselaar, Klaus Schaefer, Mario Mehren, Alexey Miller, Gerhard Schroeder, Isabelle Kocher, Gerard Mestrallet, Rainer Seele, and Matthias Warnig after signing of financing agreements for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project on April 24, 2017

By Nick Wadhams Lars Paulsson Jul 15 2020, 8:16 PM Jul 16 2020, 10:19 PM

(Bloomberg)— The U.S. is moving toward sanctions against energy companies involved in Russian pipelines to Europe and Turkey, escalating a threat to punish allies for pursuing projects that the U.S. argues will only benefit Russia.

As Europe’s domestic gas supplies decline, the region is becoming more dependent on imported fuel. The almost 10 billion-euro ($11 billion) Nord Stream 2 project from Russia to Germany is being financed by companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG and France’s Engie SA. Allseas Group SA is helping to expand the Turk Stream link. read more