Die Zeit: Germany has made US proposal for Nord Stream 2

The Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany in August offered the United States to allocate funds to finance the construction of terminals for receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the country in exchange for completing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, writes the German newspaper Die Zeit.

According to the publication, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz initially sent this proposal to his American colleague Steven Mnuchin orally, and then, on August 7, in writing.

According to the newspaper, LNG receiving terminals were supposed to be built in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven, and the ministry put forward a proposal to allocate up to one billion euros for this purpose.

“For its part, the United States will allow the construction and commissioning of Nord Stream 2 to be completed without hindrance. The existing legal possibilities for sanctions are not fully realized,” Die Zeit quotes a proposal from the message.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of a gas pipeline from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year. It is being implemented by Nord Stream 2 AG, of which Gazprom is the sole shareholder. Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper and Wintershall, the European partners of the project, are financing the project in total 50% – each amounting to up to 950 million euros.

The project is actively opposed by the United States, which is promoting its own LNG for the European Union. In December, as part of the military budget, Washington imposed sanctions on SP-2, demanding that the companies involved in the project immediately stop laying the pipeline. Swiss Allseas almost immediately announced the suspension of work. Currently, the US is discussing the expansion of sanctions against the project.