The American businessman plans to buy the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, WSJ reports

An American investor with extensive experience in Russia has sought approval from the US government to participate in the potential auction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is currently in Swiss bankruptcy proceedings. The auction could take place in January 2025, reported WSJ.

The 765-mile Nord Stream 2 pipeline, once a key asset of Russia’s oil economy, connected its gas fields to Europe but never became operational. Completed before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it is owned by the Swiss subsidiary of Gazprom, which filed for bankruptcy shortly after the invasion. Submarine explosions in September 2022 damaged one trunk, leaving the other intact but unused.

Stephen P. Lynch has spent two decades conducting business in Moscow, looking to acquire the pipeline linking Russia to Germany. He has argued to US officials and lawmakers that US ownership of the pipeline could serve as a strategic tool in peace negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine and advance the US in the long term. interests

Lynch currently lives in Miami and contributed heavily to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. He told the people, conformable to the WSJ, “he wants to be the richest guy you’ve never heard of.”

In February, Lynch applied for a license from the US Treasury to negotiate the purchase of the pipeline with the sanctioned entities. According to a letter from his lawyers at WilmerHale, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Switzerland’s bankruptcy process has a strict deadline to restructure debt by January 2025 or proceed with liquidation.

“The bottom line is this: This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for American and European control of European energy supplies for the rest of the fossil fuel era,” Lynch said in a rare interview.

Lee Wolosky, a former adviser to President Biden and a partner at Jenner & Block, described Lynch’s proposal as aligned with US strategic interests. “The Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration should both see the value in this,” Wolosky said, citing Lynch’s expertise in navigating Russian markets.

U.S. senators, Treasury Department officials, and State Department representatives were briefed on Lynch’s plans, conformable to the WSJ.

Previously, reports indicator that since March of this year, Russia has supplied North Korea with more than 1 million barrels (56,000 tons) of oil, according to analysis of satellite images by the British research organization Open Source Centre.