Euro gas crisis - update on Nord Stream II

• The heavily disputed Nord Stream II natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany has returned to the news this week, with a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border leading the White House to threaten sanction against the gas pipe.
• Nord Stream II, long under sanction by the Trump administration for its "ability to tighten Russia's grip over European energy supplies", was successfully completed earlier this year, despite US sanctions.
• In a somewhat unusual turn of events, following completion of the pipeline and in the midst of a continental energy crisis, Germany has refused to allow the pipeline to flow gas, citing legal issues.
• Currently Ukraine, the largest pathway for Russian gas pipelines into Europe, is seeing volumes down 24% YoY through November to levels as low as 40 billion cubic meters ("bcm") annualized, suggesting the Country's pipeline network could be bypassed entirely if Nord Stream II and its ~55bcm of capacity were allowed online.
• Nord Stream II could deliver ~12% of total European natural gas consumption, so with prices shattering records, inventories at the lows, and record low temperatures across much of the continent, an empty Nord Stream II pipeline is cause for much pain amongst European consumers.
• Compounding the problem for consumers, natural gas is a feedstock for electricity generation across the continent, and tight supplies have driven electricity prices to records, with French year-ahead power prices now up ~400% since this time last year.
• For Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY), the owner of the pipeline, lenders Shell (NYSE:RDS.A), BASF (OTCQX:BASFY), Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY) and OMV (OTCPK:OMVKY), and consumers across Europe, Nord Stream II gas flows cannot come soon enough; however, for the Kremlin, Ukrainians, and Biden's foreign policy team, it appears the pipeline is a political football more than a piece of energy infrastructure.
• Conversely, for gas producers not linked to Nord Stream II, like Equinor (NYSE:EQNR), Cheniere (NYSE:LNG) and Total (NYSE:TTE), Russian politics and operational missteps from peers are supporting record profits.