GeopoliticsMarket noteFriday 9 October 2026, 00:40
Nord Stream: US and Russian officials discussed an American investor
Jared Kushner and Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev talked about a US stake in the idle Nord Stream pipelines, Reuters reported. Germany says it does not want them back.
By The Notebook Desk
Senior American and Russian officials have discussed bringing an American investor into the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Reuters reported on Thursday. The talks involved Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Vladimir Putin, five people with knowledge of the situation told the agency.
The two men have met in Moscow and New York in recent weeks. It is not clear how much of that time went on Nord Stream, but two of the sources said the pipelines remain on the agenda. A White House official said there had been “no Nord Stream discussions recently”, and that any deal would have to be negotiated with the US International Development Finance Corporation, a government lender, and the Treasury.
What is for sale
Nord Stream is two pipelines under the Baltic Sea, from Russia to Germany, each 1,224km long. Together they can carry about 55bn cubic metres of gas a year, according to Nord Stream AG, the Swiss company that owns them. They cost €7.4bn to build. Gazprom, Russia’s state gas company, holds 51%. Two German companies, Wintershall Dea and E.ON, hold 15.5% each, and Gasunie of the Netherlands and Engie of France hold 9% each.
The German shareholders want to keep their stakes, to keep German influence if Gazprom sells, Reuters reported. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Germany bought more than half its gas from Russia, Reuters noted. Moscow cut the flows through Nord Stream that year, and in September 2022 underwater explosions damaged the pipes. They have carried no gas to Germany since.
Why now
Kushner sees business deals as central to making peace, according to Reuters. A stake would let American investors profit from Russian gas sales to Europe once the war ends. Kushner and Dmitriev are also discussing a sale of Lukoil’s businesses outside Russia, from refineries to petrol stations, to a group made up of the development finance agency and investors from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Under that plan, American sanctions on the assets would be lifted.
Europe’s need for gas is greater than a year ago. The war with Iran has cut gas exports from the Middle East by almost half, and the price of gas in Europe has more than doubled since February, according to the World Bank. It averaged $25.42 per million British thermal units in September, against $11.24 in February. That is still far below the record of $70.04 in August 2022, when Russia was cutting supply.
The obstacles
The hurdles are large. The United States and the European Union both have sanctions on Nord Stream, so a restart would be illegal today. Trump could waive or soften the American ones, Reuters noted, but that would be harder if the Democrats win control of Congress in next month’s midterms. EU law adopted in January also bans imports of Russian pipeline gas, with the last long-term contracts allowed to run only until 30 September 2027, according to a summary by the law firm Arendt.
Germany’s government is against a restart. A spokeswoman for its economy and energy ministry said the country had found other sources of gas, and that reopening the pipelines would need government approval, which is not wanted. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) supports a restart, and Dmitriev plans to meet its leaders early next year, Reuters reported. Poland and the Baltic states oppose any energy ties with Russia.
Kyiv sees the talks as undercutting its position. “You can’t, on the one hand, negotiate with Russia about future economic projects, and on the other, talk about a diplomatic impasse,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, the Kyiv Independent reported. He was answering Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had said there was no prospect of a negotiated settlement for now.
What to watch next
Ukrainian negotiators are due in the United States for talks with Trump’s envoys this week. An American official told Reuters a Nord Stream deal is unlikely in the medium term. The more likely first test is Lukoil: a sale of its foreign assets would show whether Washington is ready to lift sanctions on Russian energy for a share of the profits.
Disclosure
This is analysis and opinion, not investment advice.