Nord Stream pipeline launched - but its future does not look great

 Former KGB spy Vladimir Putin, former chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former Stasi agent Matthias Warnig smiling. (Schröder is Chairman of the Nord Stream AG Shareholders’ Committee and Warnig is Managing Director of Nord Stream AG.  Both men have  to thank their "friend" Putin for their lucrative jobs.

A former KGB spy, a former Stasi agent and a former German Chancellor were hand on former Finnish territory (The Finnish name of Portovaya is Satamalahti) in order to launch the Nord Stream pipeline, which will start pumping gas to Germany and a couple of other countries, next month.

Although the smiling Putin was bullish about future gas deliveries, the long term prospects for the Nord Stream are less than good. The combined effects of the shale gas and the LNG revolutions will before long seriously weaken Gazprom´s ability to dictate prices in Europe, as well as elsewhere.