CNN: November 17, 2021

Natural gas prices in Europe soared on Tuesday after Germany confirmed that it has suspended the process of certifying a controversial new Russian pipeline called Nord Stream 2.

The German energy market regulator said in a statement that it could not certify Nord Stream 2 as an independent operator because the company was based in Switzerland, not Germany.
The decision comes at a time of rising tension between the European Union and Russia over Ukraine and a migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border.

“Following a thorough examination of the documentation, the [regulator] concluded that it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law,” the German regulator said.
European gas futures prices gained 10%, piling on the pain for businesses and households already paying much higher bills. Leading energy traders have already warned of the risk of rolling blackouts in Europe in the event of a colder than average winter and some analysts say the suspension of Nord Stream 2 certification means it now won’t begin commercial operations before the middle of 2022 at the earliest.

 

 

How Biden’s plan may get some to warm up to green energy
FILE – In this Feb. 13, 2015 file photo, stacks and burn-off from the ExxonMobil refinery are seen at dusk in St. Bernard Parish, La. New York City officials say they will begin the process of dumping about $5 billion in pension fund investments in fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil, because of environmental concerns. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses
HUAINAN, CHINA – JUNE 15: A Chinese farmer works his field next to a state owned coal fired power plant near the site of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 15, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining, a common occurence in deep-well mining in China's coal heartland. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which convert sunlight to energy, and the site could potentially produce enough energy to power a city in Anhui province, regarded as one of the country's coal centers. Local officials say they are planning more projects like it, marking a significant shift in an area where long-term intensive coal mining has led to large areas of subsidence and environmental degradation. However, the energy transition has its challenges, primarily competitive pressure from the deeply-established coal industry that has at times led to delays in connecting solar projects to the state grid. China's government says it will spend over US $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and earlier this year, Beijing canceled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants in a bid to ease overcapacity and limit carbon emissions. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planet's top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the world's total coal consumption. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
The Rockefeller Foundation — founded on oil money — is dropping fossil fuels
An inlet manifold of air coolers of Ladoga GCU-32 gas compressor units at the Slavyanskaya compressor station (operated by Gazprom), the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 offshore natural gas pipeline. A gas treatment unit has been launched at the station. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will supply gas from natural gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula from where main pipelines have been laid to the Slavyanskaya compressor station. According to Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the construction of Nord Stream 2 will be completed by the end of this year.


Steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. (Chinatopix via AP)
Energy costs rise amid global crunch
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 25: A Shell garage employee holds a sign on the side of the road informing a queue of traffic that they do not have unleaded petrol on September 25, 2021 in Blackheath, London, United Kingdom. BP and Esso have announced that its ability to transport fuel from refineries to its branded petrol station forecourts is being impacted by the ongoing shortage of HGV drivers and as a result, it will be rationing deliveries to ensure continuity of supply. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
UK puts army on standby to deliver fuel as service stations run dry (September 2021)
FILE – In this Feb. 13, 2015 file photo, stacks and burn-off from the ExxonMobil refinery are seen at dusk in St. Bernard Parish, La. New York City officials say they will begin the process of dumping about $5 billion in pension fund investments in fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil, because of environmental concerns. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Climate milestone: Big Oil sent clear message by investors, courts

Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses
HUAINAN, CHINA – JUNE 15: A Chinese farmer works his field next to a state owned coal fired power plant near the site of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 15, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining, a common occurence in deep-well mining in China's coal heartland. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which convert sunlight to energy, and the site could potentially produce enough energy to power a city in Anhui province, regarded as one of the country's coal centers. Local officials say they are planning more projects like it, marking a significant shift in an area where long-term intensive coal mining has led to large areas of subsidence and environmental degradation. However, the energy transition has its challenges, primarily competitive pressure from the deeply-established coal industry that has at times led to delays in connecting solar projects to the state grid. China's government says it will spend over US $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and earlier this year, Beijing canceled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants in a bid to ease overcapacity and limit carbon emissions. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planet's top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the world's total coal consumption. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
The Rockefeller Foundation — founded on oil money — is dropping fossil fuels
An inlet manifold of air coolers of Ladoga GCU-32 gas compressor units at the Slavyanskaya compressor station (operated by Gazprom), the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 offshore natural gas pipeline. A gas treatment unit has been launched at the station. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will supply gas from natural gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula from where main pipelines have been laid to the Slavyanskaya compressor station. According to Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the construction of Nord Stream 2 will be completed by the end of this year.

Steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. (Chinatopix via AP)
Energy costs rise amid global crunch
London (CNN Business)Natural gas prices in Europe soared on Tuesday after Germany confirmed that it has suspended the process of certifying a controversial new Russian pipeline called Nord Stream 2.

The German energy market regulator said in a statement that it could not certify Nord Stream 2 as an independent operator because the company was based in Switzerland, not Germany.
The decision comes at a time of rising tension between the European Union and Russia over Ukraine and a migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border.
Poland-Belarus border tensions escalate
Poland-Belarus border tensions escalate
“Following a thorough examination of the documentation, the [regulator] concluded that it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law,” the German regulator said.
European gas futures prices gained 10%, piling on the pain for businesses and households already paying much higher bills. Leading energy traders have already warned of the risk of rolling blackouts in Europe in the event of a colder than average winter and some analysts say the suspension of Nord Stream 2 certification means it now won’t begin commercial operations before the middle of 2022 at the earliest.

 

LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 25: A Shell garage employee holds a sign on the side of the road informing a queue of traffic that they do not have unleaded petrol on September 25, 2021 in Blackheath, London, United Kingdom. BP and Esso have announced that its ability to transport fuel from refineries to its branded petrol station forecourts is being impacted by the ongoing shortage of HGV drivers and as a result, it will be rationing deliveries to ensure continuity of supply

 

How Biden’s plan may get some to warm up to green energy
FILE – In this Feb. 13, 2015 file photo, stacks and burn-off from the ExxonMobil refinery are seen at dusk in St. Bernard Parish, La. New York City officials say they will begin the process of dumping about $5 billion in pension fund investments in fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil, because of environmental concerns.

Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses
HUAINAN, CHINA – JUNE 15: A Chinese farmer works his field next to a state owned coal fired power plant near the site of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 15, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining, a common occurence in deep-well mining in China's coal heartland. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which convert sunlight to energy, and the site could potentially produce enough energy to power a city in Anhui province, regarded as one of the country's coal centers. Local officials say they are planning more projects like it, marking a significant shift in an area where long-term intensive coal mining has led to large areas of subsidence and environmental degradation. However, the energy transition has its challenges, primarily competitive pressure from the deeply-established coal industry that has at times led to delays in connecting solar projects to the state grid. China's government says it will spend over US $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and earlier this year, Beijing canceled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants in a bid to ease overcapacity and limit carbon emissions. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planet's top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the world's total coal consumption.
The Rockefeller Foundation — founded on oil money — is dropping fossil fuels
An inlet manifold of air coolers of Ladoga GCU-32 gas compressor units at the Slavyanskaya compressor station (operated by Gazprom), the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 offshore natural gas pipeline. A gas treatment unit has been launched at the station. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will supply gas from natural gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula from where main pipelines have been laid to the Slavyanskaya compressor station. According to Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the construction of Nord Stream 2 will be completed by the end of this year.
Germany suspends approval of Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Winter could bring spike in natural gas prices
Steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. (Chinatopix via AP)
Energy costs rise amid global crunch
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 25: A Shell garage employee holds a sign on the side of the road informing a queue of traffic that they do not have unleaded petrol on September 25, 2021 in Blackheath, London, United Kingdom. BP and Esso have announced that its ability to transport fuel from refineries to its branded petrol station forecourts is being impacted by the ongoing shortage of HGV drivers and as a result, it will be rationing deliveries to ensure continuity of supply. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
UK puts army on standby to deliver fuel as service stations run dry (September 2021)

Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses
HUAINAN, CHINA – JUNE 15: A Chinese farmer works his field next to a state owned coal fired power plant near the site of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 15, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining, a common occurence in deep-well mining in China's coal heartland. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which convert sunlight to energy, and the site could potentially produce enough energy to power a city in Anhui province, regarded as one of the country's coal centers. Local officials say they are planning more projects like it, marking a significant shift in an area where long-term intensive coal mining has led to large areas of subsidence and environmental degradation. However, the energy transition has its challenges, primarily competitive pressure from the deeply-established coal industry that has at times led to delays in connecting solar projects to the state grid. China's government says it will spend over US $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and earlier this year, Beijing canceled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants in a bid to ease overcapacity and limit carbon emissions. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planet's top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the world's total coal
An inlet manifold of air coolers of Ladoga GCU-32 gas compressor units at the Slavyanskaya compressor station (operated by Gazprom), the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 offshore natural gas pipeline. A gas treatment unit has been launched at the station. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline will supply gas from natural gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula from where main pipelines have been laid to the Slavyanskaya compressor station. According to
Steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. (Chinatopix via AP)
Energy costs rise amid global crunch
London (CNN Business)Natural gas prices in Europe soared on Tuesday after Germany confirmed that it has suspended the process of certifying a controversial new Russian pipeline called Nord Stream 2.

The German energy market regulator said in a statement that it could not certify Nord Stream 2 as an independent operator because the company was based in Switzerland, not Germany.
The decision comes at a time of rising tension between the European Union and Russia over Ukraine and a migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border.

“Following a thorough examination of the documentation, the [regulator] concluded that it would only be possible to certify an operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law,” the German regulator said.
European gas futures prices gained 10%, piling on the pain for businesses and households already paying much higher bills. Leading energy traders have already warned of the risk of rolling blackouts in Europe in the event of a colder than average winter and some analysts say the suspension of Nord Stream 2 certification means it now won’t begin commercial operations before the middle of 2022 at the earliest.

Nord Stream 2 is the pipeline that can change the supply game in Europe and tip the scale, so delays in its utilization mean the current tight gas market conditions will persist through the winter,” said Carlos Torres Diaz, head of gas and power markets at Rystad Energy.
The European Union gets about 40% of its imported natural gas from Russia. Nord Stream 2, which bypasses Ukraine and connects Russia directly to Germany, was completed in September despite years of opposition from countries including the United States, which warned that it would boost Moscow’s influence in Europe.

Risk of ‘rolling blackouts’
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that the European Union faced “a choice” between standing with Ukraine or approving Nord Stream 2.
“We hope that our [European] friends may recognize that a choice is shortly coming between mainlining ever more Russian hydrocarbons in giant new pipelines, and sticking up for Ukraine and championing the cause of peace and stability,” Johnson said in a speech in London.
Russia has denied withholding gas from Europe this year in order to gain political leverage, but deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said last month that “early completion of the certification” for Nord Stream 2 would help “cool off the current situation.”

Natural gas prices have rocketed this year in Europe, where the fuel plays an essential role in power generation and home heating. Leading industry experts were already warning of the risk of shortages this winter, before Tuesday’s news.
“We haven’t got enough gas at the moment, quite frankly. We’re not storing for the winter period,” Jeremy Weir, CEO of energy trading company Trafigura, told a conference organized by the Financial Times. “So hence there is a real concern that. . . if we have a cold winter that we could have rolling blackouts in Europe.”
Ukraine warns of Gazprom ‘tricks’
Germany’s energy regulator said Nord Stream 2, which is owned by Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, was planning to establish a German subsidiary to own and operate the German section of the pipeline. Once the main assets and staff have been transferred to the subsidiary, and provided it satisfies all relevant legal requirements, the certification process could resume, it added.
Ukraine welcomed Germany’s decision to put the approval process on hold. But it urged the West not to fall for what it called “Gazprom’s tricks” in announcing the formation of a German subsidiary.
“This is a mockery of European rules. This does not correspond to neither the spirit nor letter of the European legislation on gas pipeline certification,” Yuriy Vitrenko, chief executive of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, said in a Facebook post confirmed to CNN by the company’s press office.
“In particular, we call on the US government to impose sanctions under US law on the Nord Stream 2 operator, which Gazprom claims to be creating. These new sanctions should last at least until Russia stops using gas as a weapon and acts in accordance with European rules,” he added.