2 Jan 2020

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a European affair, and the US must not intervene with this initiative, said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Last week, US President Donald Trump signed the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes penalties for Nord Stream 2. Allseas’s Swiss company stopped digging the pipes under the pressure of U.S. restrictions.

“If Nord Stream 2 had reached the territories of the U.S. somehow, I would have appreciated the debate of the possible involvement of Washington in these issues. No one has to deal with that, except the nations involved in the project because of geographical and financial aspects, “Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 channel. read more

English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FD

Russia has a ship to finish Nord Stream 2

From our editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia itself has a pipeline ship to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. The newspaper Kommersant reported this on Thursday, based on anonymous sources.

Earlier this week, under pressure from US sanctions legislation, the Dutch-Swiss offshore group Allseas stopped the construction of Nord Stream 2. This pipeline runs from the Russian Oest-Luga through the Baltic Sea and the Baltic Sea to the German Greifswald. read more

By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Dina Khrennikova | Bloomberg Dec. 24, 2019 at 7:06 a.m. GMT

A new natural gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat and most recently has become the target of U.S. sanctions. The punitive measures approved by U.S. President Donald Trump have stymied construction just as the final sections of pipe were about to be laid.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a planned 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russian fields to the European network at Germany’s Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route — the original Nord Stream — that opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cost. Denmark removed one of the project’s last hurdles in October when it approved construction of the link through its waters. read more

English translation of two Nord Stream 2 articles published today by the Dutch FD.

Berlin convinced: sanctions cannot stop the construction of the last 160 km of Nord Stream 2

By Pieter Lalkens and Jeroen Groot: 24 Dec 2019

The Solitaire was one of the ships of the Dutch-Swiss offshore company Allseas who worked on the Nord Stream 2. Gas pipeline. Photo: Reuters

In brief

• Allseas has stopped the construction of Nord Stream 2 under pressure from the American sanctions.
• But the gas pipeline is simply being phased out, German politicians expect.
• The latter does entail delays and higher costs.

Although the Dutch-Swiss offshore group Allseas has stopped the construction of Nord Stream 2 under pressure from US sanctions legislation, the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany will be phased out in the view of German politics. The sanctions will only lead to a few months delay and higher costs.

“I assume that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be delivered in the second half of 2020,” said Peter Beyer, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German parliament, in a conversation with radio station Deutschlandfunk on Monday. read more

English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT

Dutch companies hit by US sanctions against Nord Stream 2

Dutch FD: From our editor: 23 Dec 2019

In brief

• President Trump has announced sanctions for the construction of the Russian gas pipe Nord Stream 2.
• The measure affects the Dutch offshore group Allseas and Shell.
• Furious reactions about internal affairs interference from Germany and Brussels.

US President Donald Trump announced sanctions from Friday to Saturday against the construction of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany. The project should be operational by mid-2020. 2100 kilometers of the gas pipeline is already finished, about 300 kilometers of pipelines are still missing.

A variety of international companies are involved in the project and are likely to be affected. Also Dutch companies. For example, the sanctions appear to be aimed particularly against the Dutch-Swiss offshore company Allseas by the Dutchman Edward Heerema. That immediately stopped its work for Nord Stream 2 on Saturday. read more

Nord Stream 2 contractor, Swiss-Dutch company Allseas, announced on Friday it had suspended pipe-laying activities. Nord Stream 2, which aims to double the Nord Stream route’s existing capacity of 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year, is owned by Gazprom, which is financing half of the project worth about 9.5 billion euros ($10.5 billion). Other partners in Nord Stream 2 are Austria’s OMV, the German firms Uniper and Wintershall, Anglo-Dutch energy major Royal Dutch Shell…

By Reuters: Dec. 21, 2019

MOSCOW — The group behind Nord Stream 2 said on Saturday it aimed to complete a pipeline to boost Russian gas supplies to Europe as soon as possible, after U.S. sanctions prompted a major contractor to suspend pipe-laying activities.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday that included legislation imposing sanctions on firms laying pipe for Nord Stream 2, which seeks to double gas capacity along the northern Nord Stream pipeline route to Germany.

Washington, which has been seeking to sell more of its own liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European states, has said Nord Stream 2 will make Europe too reliant on Russian supplies. read more

By John Donovan

This morning I received from a trusted Shell source a United States Senate letter by US Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson which has just been sent to Edward Heerema, CEO of the Allseas Group.

It contains what can only be described as dire threats against the company in relation to Allseas installation of a natural gas pipeline in Russia’s Nord Stream 2 project, in which Royal Dutch Shell is a major partner.

The letter dated 18 Dec 2019 from the US Senators demands that the Captain of the worlds largest vessel, Pioneering Spirit… “that’s right now laying this pipeline… needs to instruct the ship’s captain to set sail for other waters, because if they don’t, they’ll put the company out of business.” read more

ARTICLE EXTRACT: “But projects in Russia also carry risks. Mitsubishi and Mitsui were involved in Sakhalin 2, but their ownership in the project, as well as Shell’s, was reduced in 2006-07 after the Russian government raised environmental issues. Gazprom joined as the largest shareholder.” (This Video features a related TV documentary segment including interviews with John Donovan and the then Russian Environmental Minister, Oleg Mitvol)

RYOSUKE HANAFUSA, Nikkei staff writer: DECEMBER 20, 2019 18:12 JST

TOKYO — A group of Japanese companies and its government are set to launch a new liquefied natural gas project with Russian and U.S. partners in far eastern Russia in a move that may shift the power dynamics of the growing global LNG market.

The project involves Exxon Mobil of the U.S., Russian state oil company Rosneft and Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development, a Japanese consortium that counts Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as Itochu, Japan Petroleum Exploration and Marubeni as shareholders. The parties are in talks to produce LNG from the Sakhalin I Project, which already produces crude oil. read more

French electricity and gas firm Engie SA and Royal Dutch Shell are among other major companies alongside Gazprom which are major players in the controversial project.

By Zerohedge.com

Included in Wednesday’s just passed mammoth 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — which increases the Pentagon budget by $22 billion (to a whopping $738 billion) — were long-threatened sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 underwater natural gas pipeline.

In the House bill, expected to be approved by the Senate sometime next week before Trump signs it into law, are measures which specifically target companies assembling the pipeline, a last ditch US effort to block the controversial 760-mile project that would allow Russia to export natural gas directly to Germany, depriving Ukraine of badly needed gas transit fees along the current route for Russian supplies. read more

NOVEMBER 14, 2019 / 2:30 PM

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s competition watchdog said on Thursday it had decided to delay by three months Shell’s (RDSa.L) purchase of 9.3 billion roubles ($145.73 million) worth of shares in a subsidiary of Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM).

Shell is expected to buy a 50% stake in Meretoyakhaneftegaz, a Gazprom Neft subsidiary which holds licensing rights to the Meretoyakhinskoye oil field.

Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Jan Harvey read more

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors…

A new natural gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat and has prompted calls for sanctions from U.S. senators. Denmark gave approval on Oct. 30 for the pipeline to traverse its sub-sea territory, removing the final hurdle to its completion. Russian gas could be flowing through the conduit as soon as early next year.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a planned 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russian fields to the European network at Germany’s Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route — the original Nord Stream — that opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) in cost. As of the end of October, the link was 87% complete, according to Nord Stream. read more

Shell urges U.S. Congress to withhold Nord Stream 2 sanctions

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is asking the U.S. Congress not to enact sanctions against the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline to Germany, said Cederic Cremers, head of Shell’s business in Russia.

A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill in July to place sanctions on companies and individuals involved in building the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

The Donald Trump administration says the project would strengthen Moscow’s economic grip on Europe.

“If the current legislation under consideration in the U.S. Congress is passed, it will affect all of the companies involved with the project, including Shell. We therefore respectfully urge lawmakers not to enact these sanctions,” Shell’s Cremers said in emailed comments. read more

SPUTNIK: Shell Stops Sending UK-Flagged Ships Through Strait of Hormuz Over Tanker Seizure by Iran

02.08.2019

Since relations between Iran and the UK further deteriorated following the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ alleged attempt to block a BP tanker traversing the Strait of Hormuz, this British multinational oil and gas conglomerate has not sent tankers there. Its Anglo-Dutch rival has also followed suit.

The gas and oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has stated that they’ve ceased sending British-flagged vessels through the key lane for oil shipping, the Strait of Hormuz, amid the UK-Iranian tensions, exacerbated by recent incidents. They, however, will apparently continue using the route. read more

Sir Henri Deterding: Hitlers Paymaster

By John Donovan

EXTRACT FROM PAGE 07/483 from volume 1 of a four-volume work published in 2007 “A History of Royal Dutch Shell” – authored by eminent historians associated with Utrecht University. 

From 1937 Deterding, now influenced by a personal secretary with outspoken Fascist sympathies, helped to finance the paper of a Fascist splinter group in the Netherlands, just as the Group sponsored a Russian anti-Soviet press service in London. Finally, if Deterding or the Group indeed supported the Nazis during their wilderness years with any substantial sums, then one would have expected the Reichskanzlei to have acknowledged the fact in the minute considering whether or not to grant him an audience with Hitler in March 1933. However, the document mentions nothing of the kind; Deterding was turned down without further ado. read more

Russian President Vladimir Putin met the head of the Royal Dutch Shell, Ben Van Buerden, this week to discuss liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, the Kremlin’s press service said.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, earlier this year Shell pulled out of the Baltic LNG project with Russian natural gas giant Gazprom.

“Shell is one of the largest foreign investors in [the] Russian economy, with over $15bn [in] investment. The company [has been] working in Russia since 1892, when it first sold gasoline in [the] Russian empire. We have a lot to talk about,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov told Interfax. “To be serious, we have many projects related to LNG,” he added. read more

By Energy Reporters  | 11.06.2019

European oil giants, including Royal Dutch Shell and OMV, have signed cooperation deals with Russian energy companies during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, despite risks of potential new western sanctions.

Since the 2014 invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions, Russian oil firms have operated with limited access to western financing and limits on production technology. 

Multinational oil firms have wound down cooperation that could be in breach of sanctions but work on conventional hydrocarbons projects continues to grow. Deals signed this week included Shell, Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of the state-run gas giant, and Spain’s Repsol agreeing to jointly develop fossil-fuel projects in the melting Russian Arctic.  read more