forsa: less and less confidence in the U.S.

Confidence in the reliability of the U.S. as an energy supplier has fallen further, as a representative survey by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the German Eastern Business Association now shows. According to the survey, only 10% of Germans still regard the United States as a reliable energy supplier. That puts the U.S. behind the Middle East for the first time in the confidence ranking. 14% of German citizens regard the countries in the Middle East as reliable energy suppliers. According to the forsa survey, as before, Germans consider Norway (70%), followed by Canada (44%) and Russia (41%) as the most reliable supplier countries.

The comparison with identical surveys by forsa in the past years shows how rapid the downward trend is for the U.S. While 50% of German still regarded Americans as a reliable energy partner in September 2017, only 21% of those surveyed shared that view in May 2018. And that figure has now been halved again to 10%. In connection with the loss of confidence, the opinion researchers talk about a “certain Trump effect”. For this reason, another result of the survey is also not entirely surprising for them: more than three quarters of Germans (77%) say they are in favour of Nord Stream 2 being completed, also against the opposition of the U.S. This demand has a clear majority among the supporters of all the parties represented in the German Bundestag. Approval of the project is especially great among supporters of the SPD (93%), the CDU/CSU (89%), the Left Party (89%) and the Green Party (86%). Only four percent of Germans reject continued construction of the pipeline.

“Despite existing political conflicts, the close partnership that we have had with Russia for 50 years enjoys wide public acceptance,” said Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall Dea and Head of the Russia Country Working Group of the German Eastern Business Association, commenting on the survey results.

A fact sheet with the results of the survey and the press release of the German Eastern Business Association can be found attached in PDF form and online here.

On behalf of the German Eastern Business Association, the forsa Politik- und Sozialforschung AG surveyed 1,006 representative women and men over 18 from 16 to 19 March using computer-aided telephone interviews. The survey results can be applied to the population as a whole with an error tolerance of +/- 3%.

_{About Wintershall Dea}

_{Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.}

_{Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs around 2,800 people worldwide from over 60 nations.}