Baltic, Construction, Energy, Energy Market, EU – CIS, Gas, Gas Market , Markets and Companies

As reported by Gazprom on 11^th of November, its board of directors has approved the termination of the shareholder agreement of Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 2 planned gas pipeline. The decision was made after Polish antimonopoly regulator opposed Gazprom's planned joint venture with its Western partners- Uniper, Wintershall, Shell, OMV and Engie, argumenting it would restrain competition. This creates a serious issue for Nord Stream 2 as the project financing is at stake and the investment risk gets higher.

Mara Zepa, Director of Communications, Baltic Energy Alliance: “Although the Nord Stream 2 still might become a success, the situation is very different now since the first string of Nord Stream was put into operation in November 2011. There are several mistakes being made continuously now and endangering the proper implementation of the project. Inability to evaluate the current geopolitical environment properly, ambiguous role of the Western companies and a lack of cutting edge stakeholder policies are having its consequences.”

Athough it's mentioned by the source in Gazprom quoted by TASS news agency that “the termination of the Nord Stream 2 shareholder agreement is a technical move and breaks a new ground for finding more cooperation forms with western partners for implementation of the project” (http://tass.com/economy/911708), the public positioning and all the media activities by the Nord Stream 2 consortium seen already can be characterized as weak in an attempt of its business partners to both keep their public image aligned with current Western policy and still be a part of the deal with Gazprom. The revised stakeholder mapping of Nord Stream 2 consortium is a must.

Mara Zepa:” Its also important for Gazprom to set the priorities defining either Turkish Stream over Nord Stream 2 or vice versa as it will be rather impossible to realise both of them at the same time without an impact on company's financial performance. A restart is essential to keep the Nord Stream 2 project running, defining the relations with Western partners on a new level or evaluate other options as much more confident signals are expected in the capital markets now”.

The further announcements regarding activities of Baltic Energy Alliance will be made in the beginning of 2017.