The Power of Gas – Politics with Pipelines

The final round of debates on the future of the much disputed gas pipeline “Nord-Stream 2” has begun. Whether a European consortium, led by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, will be able to build another pipeline through the Baltic see is currently debated on the highest political levels in Brussels, Berlin, Moscow and Washington. Soon, the bulk of Russian gas exports to the EU could funnel through this transport corridor. However, the project has many opponents. Poles, Slovakians, Balts. The Ukraine is afraid to become vulnerable against Russian interests if Western Europe doesn’t need it anymore as an energy corridor. The USA want to sell their own liquid gas and threaten to impose sanctions. Opponents of the pipeline in the EU try their best to hold up or even prevent its construction with legislative tricks. However, government representatives state that it is exclusively a private commercial project and that it guarantees the security of supply as well as low gas prices.

Supporters and opponents agree on only one point: Nord-Stream-2 would have an impact on European energy policy for decades, and thus influence, too, its geopolitics, as energy issues are always issues of power. Russia is aware of that and has earlier made use of this correlation. This time, however, the USA are involved.

The documentary shows the pros and cons of Nord-Stream-2. It is shot in Germany, France, Ukraine, Georgia, Brussels and Moscow.