Swiss minister: All staff of Nord Stream 2 AG in Zug fired | News from Germany about Europe

Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, has been forced to lay off all of its staff in the Swiss city of Zug in light of the freezing of the project’s certification in Germany and the imposition of US sanctions on the firm. We are talking about more than 140 employees, Guy Parmelin, head of the federal department for economic affairs, education and research, said on the air of the public legal media company RTS on Monday, February 28. The pipeline operator himself did not comment on the situation at the time of publication.

Washington’s penalties against the company were introduced on February 23 in response to Moscow’s recognition of the independence of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.” United States President Joseph Biden had previously waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG out of respect for Germany.

The day after the introduction of restrictive measures, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a war against Ukraine, calling it a “special military operation in the Donbass.” The Kremlin’s decision drew sharp condemnation from many countries. Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were included in the sanctions lists of the United States, the European Union, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan.

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European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Nord Stream 2 awaits certification
The Nord Stream 2 receiving terminal in Lubmin, Germany, is completely ready from autumn 2021. However, Gazprom still needs to prove that the gas pipeline complies with EU antimonopoly laws, otherwise it will be impossible to operate both of its strings. In Germany and the European Union, many months are allotted for certification. The adoption of the decision will be the event of the year for the gas market, but it will not happen until the second half of the summer.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Will Gazprom fill its UGS facilities?
The European Union entered 2022 with the lowest blue fuel stocks in many years and record prices for it. The level of injection was especially low in the gas storage facilities of the Russian state company Gazprom in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. In the largest German UGS facility Rehden (pictured), it fell below 5% in autumn. The intrigue of the year is whether last year’s situation will repeat itself – and how this will be treated in the EU.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Germany needs new gas-fired power plants
A very symbolic picture for today’s Germany: the city of Hamm, in the background – a closed coal-fired power plant, in the foreground – an operating gas one. The German government intends to urgently launch the construction of gas-fired thermal power plants throughout the country so that they insure renewable energy in the face of the rejection of nuclear and coal. So gas suppliers have good prospects in the main EU market.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Norway increased production and supplies
Norway has been supplying Germany with gas for over 40 years, and Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned company, has benefited the most from the rise in gas prices in Europe. It maximized supplies to the EU spot market. Including from the world’s largest gas platform Troll A. Production and transport infrastructure at this giant oil and gas field in the North Sea have just been expanded and modernized by the fall of 2021.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
LNG tankers headed for Europe
The high cost of gas in the European market has led to a reorientation of global flows of liquefied natural gas. For a number of manufacturers, including American ones, it became more profitable to supply it to Europe, and not to Asia, where prices were much higher for a long time. The picture shows another tanker entering the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Increasing the share of LNG in the EU market is one of the main trends in 2022.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Poland switches to Baltic Pipe
By the end of 2022, Poland’s long-term contract with Gazprom expires, and it is not going to renew it, since it plans to continue to receive the same 10 billion cubic meters per year through the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline. It is being built with the support of the EU to supply gas from Norway through Denmark. The most difficult part of the project – laying pipes along the bottom of the Baltic Sea – was completed at the end of 2021.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Turkey prepares to produce its own gas
Recep Tayyip Erdogan wished good luck to the drilling vessel Fatih, and its exploration work in the Black Sea in 2020 and 2021 was a success. Turkey announced the discovery of large gas fields, and its president promised to start exploiting them as early as 2023. How realistic plans are to quickly reduce dependence on supplies from Russia and Azerbaijan will become clear during the course of this year.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
Bulgaria is waiting for gas from Azerbaijan
Due to the pandemic and commercial miscalculations, the ICGB project was delayed: the interconnector connecting Bulgaria with Greece and the TAP gas pipeline was supposed to be put into operation at the end of 2020. Now in Sofia they hope that it will start working by the beginning of the new heating season, so that they can finally receive the gas contracted from Azerbaijan in full and be less dependent on Gazprom’s Turkish Stream.

European gas market 2022: projects, events, trends
The fate of EastMed is in question
In January 2020, the leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Israel decided to build the EastMed underwater gas pipeline to deliver gas to the EU from offshore fields in the Eastern Mediterranean. In January 2022, the United States stopped supporting this project, and the EU, where they also want to speed up the development of “green” energy, began to doubt its expediency. The further fate of the project is another gas intrigue of the year.
Author: Andrey Gurkov