World News: Germany’s Scholz halts Nord Stream 2 as Ukraine crisis deepens – Gulf Digital News

World News: Germany’s Scholz halts Nord Stream 2 as Ukraine crisis deepens – Gulf Digital News

BERLIN: Germany on Tuesday halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany, after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

Europe's most divisive energy project, worth $11 billion, was finished in September, but has stood idle pending certification by Germany and the European Union.

The pipeline had been set to ease the pressure on European consumers facing record energy prices amid a wider post-pandemic cost of living crisis, and on governments that have already forked out billions to try to cushion the impact on consumers.

But on Tuesday the European benchmark gas price, currently the Dutch March contract, was up 9.2% to 78.50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 1337 GMT.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president and now deputy chairman of its Security Council, tried to rub salt in that wound.

"Welcome to the new world where Europeans will pay 2,000 euros for gas!" he said, according to the news agency RIA.

Germany obtains half its gas from Russia and had argued that Nord Stream 2 was primarily a commercial project to diversify energy supplies for Europe.

But despite the potential benefits, it had faced opposition within the European Union and