Goodbye Globalization by Elisabeth Braw;

Author:Elisabeth Braw;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300277166
Publisher: Yale University Press

12

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE

Axel Vogt, the mayor of Lubmin, still remembers the day Nord Stream 1 was inaugurated. As we sat in his office at the harbour, he pointed to the quay opposite. That’s where the tent stood in which Angela Merkel, Dmitry Medvedev, François Fillon, Mark Rutte, Gerhard Schröder and all the other dignitaries ceremonially inaugurated the new pipeline on 8 November 2011. Soon thereafter, they were gone; Lubmin is not the sort of town where potentates or other visitors linger during the colder months. In the summer, people spend time on the beach. But as Vogt concluded the moment he moved to Lubmin, tourism is at best a partial source of income.

That’s why The One and its sibling-to-be, The Two, were such a breakthrough for Lubmin. Its gas would flow year round, bringing the town tax revenues of more than €5 million each year. Its facility by the port, handling the transfer of gas from the Baltic Sea pipeline to the terrestrial one transporting it to its eventual destinations, would provide highly skilled jobs for local residents. Reassured by the arrival of such a major outfit, several other companies had already expressed an interest in setting themselves up in Lubmin. Vogt, an exceptionally friendly man with a warm handshake, could even live with the fact that the pipeline was generating some controversy. The nuclear storage site next to the old power plant had also generated controversy over the years, he reminded himself. Imagine if the old East German nuclear power plant were still in operation: environmental campaigners would stage constant protests in his town.

Vogt was proven right. A Canadian company trading in canola soon made Lubmin its German arrival port. A mid-sized oil company set up shop in Lubmin, which became its arrival port too. And when nearby Baltic Sea offshore wind construction took off in earnest, the town became a base for crews and equipment. Like the Nord Stream 1 teams, the workers often stayed in the hostel ship docked right at the harbour or rented accommodation from Lubmin residents. After years of decline, the people of Lubmin felt that destiny was finally on their side. East Germany joining West Germany and then the global economy hadn’t been too bad in the end.

And things were about to get better still. ‘Shell and four European companies – ENGIE, OMV, Uniper and Wintershall – signed financing agreements with Nord Stream 2 AG, the company responsible for the planning, construction and future operation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The 1,220-kilometer pipeline will be able to transport a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. It will run from the coast of Russia via the Baltic Sea to Greifswald in Germany, acting as a direct link between Russian reserves and European consumers,’ the oil and gas giant Shell had announced when plans for the pipeline were finalized in August 2017.1 The five energy companies had each committed to provide financing and guarantees for up to 10 per cent of the total cost, around €9.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.