CEO: Wintershall to continue participation in Nord Stream 2

ABU DHABI, Nov 14 (PRIME) -- Germany’s Wintershall will continue its participation in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project after it has studied clarifications to new U.S. sanctions against Russia by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), CEO Mario Mehren told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have seen the clarifications issued by the U.S. government, of course, and firstly I think that this clarification demonstrates clearly that we will continue our support for the project. We finance the project together with other international companies,” Mehren said.

He said that the effect of the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 financing will become known after market tests. “I mean, the banking market is wide, there are U.S., European, Chinese, Indian banks and they have various points of view on what to finance and how, I think it is too early to say how sanctions will influence the financing layout of the project.”

Nord Stream 2 has not asked its partners for further payments so far, Mehren said. “We have not received requests for the next installment. We have paid the first significant tranche and we are ready to pay for the next stage when we receive the request. This is a well-managed organization (Nord Stream 2) and I am sure that they will inform us when there is a need,” Mehren said.

Gazprom remains the sole shareholder of the project and will invest 4.75 billion euros, while European partners Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper and Wintershall, agreed to bear a total of 50% of the project costs, or 950 million euros each. Project financing is to cover 70% of the pipeline costs.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill introducing additional sanctions against Russia among several other states. The bill prohibits companies from investing more than U.S. $1 million in a single payment or more than $5 million during the course of a year in construction of Russian export pipelines, as well as provision of goods, services, technologies and information support for the construction.

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