With Ukraine and U.S. oil companies at least partially in mind, a new bill passed by an overwhelming 97 to 2 majority in the Senate on Wednesday punishes Russian oil and gas firms even more than the current sanctions regime. The bill goes to the House and will likely pass there as well. Russia has no friends on Capitol Hill.
The latest upgrade reveals a colossal chasm between Republicans and the President, with new additions that may yet put the squeeze on a Baltic Sea pipeline designed to bypass Ukraine as a key transit route for Gazprom natural gas into Europe. The Nord Stream II pipeline is a sister pipeline to the Nord Stream I. It would sit side-by-side and ship Russian gas into Germany. Gazprom’s partners in this new pipeline include Engie of France, OMV of Austria, Shell Oil and Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall. The pipeline is part of a duo of new transit routes designed to bypass Ukraine, Russia’s traditional partner for Europe-bound gas deliveries. The other Gazprom pipeline deal is with Turkey, but the so-called Turkish Stream project is not mentioned in the changes.
What is the impact of these new measures? Forbes spoke about the matter with Sijbren de Jong. The full article can be read here.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Foter.com / CC BY-SA
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