France and Germany have so far spoken out against the bill that the US House passed overwhelmingly on Tuesday as one that adversely affects European industries while advancing US commercial interests.
"Five measures are connected with the expansion of the Nord Stream, and according to the Federal regulator, are too insecure. They should be included on the gas networks development plan only when the permission for Nord Stream expansion construction appears," the statement said.
The statement noted that the draft gas network development plan of the German gas transmission system operators (TSOs) initially comprised 122 projects worth nearly 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion). The proposed projects are mainly concerned with the conversion of low calorific gas (L-gas) to high calorific gas (H-gas), connection of new gas power plants and disposal of gas from the Nord Stream 2 project.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern condemned the draft of new US sanctions, which, as they said on June 15, was about "selling American liquefied natural gas and ending the supply of Russian natural gas to the European market."
The Nord Stream 2 project presumes the construction of two gas pipelines with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas. The new pipeline is planned to be laid along the existing Nord Stream pipeline route from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea, on to a hub in Germany.
