Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News #2

Russia needs to cut import of gasoline. It should open more refineries.

Coming on Trump's last full day in office, the US has slapped yet more sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 Russia to Germany natural gas pipeline as part of ongoing efforts to prevent its completion, specifically targeting a ship in involved in its final leg of construction.

The Russian pipe-laying ship "Fortuna" and its owner will be subject to new sanctions according to a declaration by the US Treasury on Tuesday, specifically under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Additionally the oil tanker Maksim Gorky and two Russian firms, KVT-Rus and Rustanker, were blacklisted.

"The United States is not afraid to hold accountable those who continue to aid and abet this tool of Russian coercion," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said of the new measures in his last statements while on the job in the Trump administration. The new measures come as Gazprom has estimated that only 6% of the pipeline remains till completion. This is equal to about 150kim, which Russia has vowed to see through to finish.

While prior US sanctions have been shrugged off, though sometimes with temporary stoppages, Gazprom and Russian officials are now sounding the alarm over the growing "risk" the project could be suspended altogether if more Washington sanctions are piled on. Russian state gas company Gazprom acknowledged there is a risk that its undersea pipeline to Germany could be suspended or cancelled after the United States on Tuesday slapped sanctions on a Russian ship involved in its construction.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said it had been informed in advance of the new US sanctions against the Russian pipe-laying ship Fortuna and its owner. "We take note of this announcement with regret," the ministry said.

While underscoring the state-owned company plans to finish, a fresh memorandum by Gazprom issued to investors noted that these latest sanctions could make "the implementation of the project impossible or unfeasible and lead to its suspension or cancellation," according to TASS.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately on Tuesday slammed the "crude and illegitimate US pressure" in the form of 11th hour Trump administration sanctons. "We closely follow the situation and analyze it as we continue work to finalize the project," Peskov told reporters.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nord-stream-2-pipeline-risk-after-fresh-trump-admin-sanctions-gazprom-admits

Germany explained why Russian gas is better than American

Despite all US efforts to sabotage the construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with sanctions, it will be completed. Why did Germany still choose Russia as an energy partner?
10:23 18 January 2021

Now a real "cold gas war" is going on in Germany between Russia and the United States , Suzanne Goetze writes about this in her material for Der Spiegel. According to her, both countries are looking for "loopholes" to enter the European energy market through the FRG. Thus, the Russian Federation is building its own gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, while the States want to deliver liquefied gas by tankers to the North Sea coast in Lower Saxony. Moreover, each of them declares that the import of their gas will help in protecting the climate. The author asks the question, which gas is more environmentally friendly?

The main danger of natural gas lies in its component - methane. It is he who is responsible for a quarter of anthropogenic changes. However, scientists do not confirm the fact of its harm if delivered by pipeline. Problems can arise only if it leaks or breaks the gas pipeline.

Suzanne, referring to the German environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe, reports that the supply of American liquefied gas looks much more dangerous for the environment. It is worth starting with the fact that for the passage of megatankers it will be necessary to widen the Elbe . In addition, the cargo itself is extremely dangerous, and there is a chemical production in the port where it will be delivered . Also in the near future it is planned to locate a storage facility for nuclear waste.

The author added that the "environmental friendliness" of American gas is also negatively affected by its production method. Thus, in recent years, the United States has been actively developing the production of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing, which uses chemicals that pollute the soil and groundwater. In addition, a large amount of additional energy is used to simply deliver this gas.

“The gas is first cooled to be converted into a liquid form, and then a regasification process takes place at the terminals,” Goetze writes.

In the case of Russian gas, methane leakage during production and transportation is practically excluded, which makes it more environmentally friendly. That is why the scales of the Cold Gas War are tipping in favor of the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

https://slovodel.com/591017-v-germanii-obyasnili-chem-rossiiskii-gaz-luchshe-amerikanskogo?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com

kvs wrote:

Gazprom is signalling that it will kill the NS 2 pipeline project.   And before all the NATzO retards can fully spooge
their underwear, that is not any sort of loss for Russia.   In addition to the Power of Siberia project that has
already opened 62 bcm/year export capacity in the east and will progress to 140 bcm in a couple of years, Russia
is deploying substantial LNG export infrastructure.   It has already launched ice class LNG carriers that can handle
2 m of ice and is building more.   The average thickness in the Arctic is 1.7 m thanks to global warming so these
carriers do not even need ice breaker support.

For context, the LNG price to east Asian customers is now hitting $700 for 1000 cubic meters of gas.   Gazprom
was selling 1000 cubic meters for $170 to the EU last year.   EU-tards have no clue what is coming their way.
Good, they deserve it.

Russia will probably cuck out and increase deliveries to Europe through Ukraine and Poland.

Karl Haushofer wrote:

kvs wrote:

Gazprom is signalling that it will kill the NS 2 pipeline project.   And before all the NATzO retards can fully spooge
their underwear, that is not any sort of loss for Russia.   In addition to the Power of Siberia project that has
already opened 62 bcm/year export capacity in the east and will progress to 140 bcm in a couple of years, Russia
is deploying substantial LNG export infrastructure.   It has already launched ice class LNG carriers that can handle
2 m of ice and is building more.   The average thickness in the Arctic is 1.7 m thanks to global warming so these
carriers do not even need ice breaker support.

For context, the LNG price to east Asian customers is now hitting $700 for 1000 cubic meters of gas.   Gazprom
was selling 1000 cubic meters for $170 to the EU last year.   EU-tards have no clue what is coming their way.
Good, they deserve it.

Russia will probably cuck out and increase deliveries to Europe through Ukraine and Poland.

Russia are usually cucks and give in way too easily.

miketheterrible wrote:

Karl Haushofer wrote:

kvs wrote:

Gazprom is signalling that it will kill the NS 2 pipeline project.   And before all the NATzO retards can fully spooge
their underwear, that is not any sort of loss for Russia.   In addition to the Power of Siberia project that has
already opened 62 bcm/year export capacity in the east and will progress to 140 bcm in a couple of years, Russia
is deploying substantial LNG export infrastructure.   It has already launched ice class LNG carriers that can handle
2 m of ice and is building more.   The average thickness in the Arctic is 1.7 m thanks to global warming so these
carriers do not even need ice breaker support.

For context, the LNG price to east Asian customers is now hitting $700 for 1000 cubic meters of gas.   Gazprom
was selling 1000 cubic meters for $170 to the EU last year.   EU-tards have no clue what is coming their way.
Good, they deserve it.

Russia will probably cuck out and increase deliveries to Europe through Ukraine and Poland.

Russia are usually cucks and give in way too easily.

Russia's main weakness is that they are not ruthless like the West it. I'm not asking Russia to be evil but they should be more ruthless when dealing with enemies. Russia is soft and everyone knows it. Russia is not feared or respected. If Russia really was as bad as it is portrayed to be then those Balts would not be yapping at Russia at every chance, but instead they would keep quiet or try to please Russia.

I am 80% certain that if Nord Stream II is cancelled everything will return back to way it was in the old days. Russia will keep using Ukraine as a transit country and pay Ukraine several billions of $ annually to help them stay afloat.

And if NSII is indeed cancelled I wonder who is being held responsible for this miss-investment? How many billions did Gazprom lose?

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna has started work on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish waters, the operator of the pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, said on Sunday.

"The Fortuna vessel has started work on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish waters ... Work is underway in accordance with the received arrangements," the statement said.

The US Department of Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the vessel and its owner KVT-Rus for building the Nord Stream 2 gas-exporting route. Sanctions have also been imposed by the Treasury Department on the Russian oil tanker Maksim Gorki, Rustanker and the associated Sierra oil tanker.

Earlier, the new head of Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union, Armin Laschet, said that the execution of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project should not rely on the political situation with Russia, namely with the detention of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition figure.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two gas pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by the US, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the EU, as well as Ukraine and a number of European countries. In December 2019, the US imposed sanctions against the gas pipeline, as a result of which the Swiss-based Allseas Group was forced to stop laying pipe, eventually resuming construction last year.