The United States and Russia have discussed the idea of finding a U.S. investor for the Nord Stream pipeline and working out sales of Russian gas to Europe, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of recent meetings between top U.S. and Russian officials.
U.S. Special Envoy Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund, have met in Moscow and New York in recent weeks to discuss energy deals as part of attempts to broker a truce between Russia and Ukraine.
However, any gas deal – which cannot take place any time soon because of U.S. and EU sanctions on Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 – would likely face stiff opposition in most EU member states, including in Germany’s federal government.
Last year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Germany plans to do all it takes to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline offline.
Nord Stream 2, an $11-billion project to carry Russian natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea following the Nord Stream route, was built at the end of the 2010s. But the pipeline was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process in early 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September of 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions. In a suspected sabotage, gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea were discovered at the end of September 2022.
Asked to comment on the Kushner-Dmitriev meetings and possible resurrection of Russian gas sales to Europe, a spokeswoman for Germany’s economy and energy ministry told Reuters this week that Nord Stream and Russian gas are sanctioned in Europe and that Germany had found alternatives. Any reopening of the pipelines, which is not desired, would require government approval, the spokeswoman said.
A White House official told Reuters there had been “no Nord Stream discussions recently” and that any deals must be negotiated by Russia with the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Treasury and “must benefit United States taxpayers and companies.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Big Oil Begins Shutting In Gulf of Mexico Production
- First Deep-Gulf Tanker Attack in Nearly a Month Hits Vessel off Qatar
- Oil Jumps 5% as Iran Steps Up Attacks on Hormuz Tankers
