In an initial reaction to crisis in Ukraine, the German government has instructed national regulators to back-pedal on the licensing of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
TradeWinds reporters across the globe are covering the shipping implications on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
According to a report by German news magazine Der Spiegel, economy minister Robert Habeck sent a letter to the country’s energy network regulator earlier on Tuesday, asking it to withdraw a previously issued certificate that would have allowed the pipeline’s pending certification to go ahead.
Habeck, a member of the Green party — which is the most critical partner towards Russia in Germany’s three-way ruling coalition — asked the grid regulator to re-examine the certificate it issued last year in the light of Russia's intervention in the separatist republics in the east of Ukraine.
Nord Stream 2, a recently completed underwater pipeline that directly links Russia to the German market, has been the object of US sanctions and its licensing in Germany has been suspended once before.
In May, the US imposed sanctions on 13 vessels for their involvement in the construction of the pipeline but exempted the project's developer.
The US views the pipeline as a threat to Europe's energy security, making the continent more reliant on Russia. The US is in the coming years expected to become the world's largest exporter of LNG.
Disruptions in the gas of trade between Russia and Europe over Ukraine might supercharge gas shipping.
