Anti-NS2 Stance About More Than Just Higher US Gas Sales
A senior official with the US state department said December 10 president Donald Trump’s opposition to the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline from Russia to Germany has little to do with boosting sales in Europe of US LNG.
Speaking to reporters, Frank Fannon, assistant secretary of state for energy resources, said the current administration’s opposition is more geo-political in nature.
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“US opposition to Nord Stream 2 is rooted in our abiding concern that the pipeline presents broad geo-strategic threats to Europe's security,” Fannon said, adding that the US has been opposed to NS2 since “well before” it became a major LNG exporter.
The state department, under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has intensified its opposition to the completion of NS2 in the weeks since Russia seized three Ukrainian naval vessels. Some in the European Union agree that Russia poses a military threat to the EU and Nato, but some – led by Germany – insist the US is employing national security measures, including sanctions on Russian energy companies and the threat of sanctions against NS2 – to force European allies to buy more American natural gas, an argument Fannon tried to dispel with reporters.
“America’s call for diversification preceded our recent position as exporter,” he said, while praising another major European gas project. “Our steadfast support for the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) has spanned multiple administrations and continues today, despite the fact that there is no direct American investment in that project.”
The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the South Caucasus Pipeline between Azerbaijan and Georgia, the Trans Anatolian Pipeline, which moves gas within Turkey and the TransAdriatic pipeline which takes it across Greece and Albania and into Italy. That last element is still being built.