Nord Stream 2 financial investors say discussion about pipeline project “superficial, emotion-driven”

Europe’s reliance on natural gas imports - as a “partner for renewables” – is growing, and the contentious Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is needed to supply the continent with gas cheaper than the liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from the US, the CEOs of the pipeline’s financial investors Uniper, Wintershall, and OMV write in a joint press release. Natural gas is “the underlying pillar” for the reliable and competitive energy supply of the European economy, and it will become more important “if Europe wants to achieve its ambitious climate goals,” they write. “Nord Stream 2 is a billion dollar investment in state-of-the-art European gas infrastructure, in the secure supply of gas to people and industry in Europe,” but the public debate about the project has become “bizarre,” “mostly superficial,” and “emotion-driven,” they write. “In the end, an additional reliable transport route for gas to Europe is created with the pipeline, nothing more.”

Read the press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW news digest item Nord Stream 2: green light for 55-kilometre section in German territorial waters, and the factsheet Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.