LIVE: Russia Threatens to Cut Off Ukraine and Europe’s Gas, China Might Buy Russian Energy Sources
How’s that green energy working out for ya?
I’ve said this a million times: Putin has the ultimate weapon in his grasp and he will use it. Putin owns Europe because the continent relies on Russia for its oil and gas. Germany gets 75% of its natural gas from Russia.
Now Putin is threatening to use the weapon.
Live streams:
Saudia Arabia, UAE Won’t Talk to Biden
But they’ll talk to Putin:
The leaders of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined overtures from the White House to set up a call with President Biden, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan have declined to speak with Biden in recent weeks, a U.S. official told WSJ, but both leaders did field calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,“ said a U.S. official of the planned discussion between the Saudi Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. ”It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].”
Russian General Killed
Russian Major Gen. Vitalii Gerasimov is killed in fighting near Kharkiv.
*2nd Russian general to die in Putin’s attack.
*Gerasimov took part in 2nd Chechen war and military actions in Syria & Crimea.
*Source: Ukraine intelligence; confirmed by @bellingcathttps://t.co/bI343c6dZr pic.twitter.com/u3nBOKDiLU— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) March 8, 2022
McDonald’s Temporarily Closing Restaurants in Russia
Go ahead and keep harming the Russian people. None of this harms Putin and his cronies.
Breaking: McDonald’s is closing 850 restaurants in Russia temporarily. No Big Macs for you!
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) March 8, 2022
Zelenskyy: West Holds Some Responsibility for the Dead Due to Lack of No-Fly Zone
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy needs to understand that a no-fly zone is an awful idea. It’s so awful that Democrats and Republicans agree it shouldn’t happen:
Russia, in the last 30 years, has not lost as much of military air equipment as it has lost in these 13 days in Ukraine. But they still have enough equipment for killing, enough rockets for terror, still enough 500 kg bombs in order to throw them down on us, regular people, on Chernihiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Poltava, Zhytomyr, on many, many dozens of Ukrainian cities, on millions of peaceful Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said.
“Thirteen days, during which we`ve been just hearing promises, when they tell us that yes, very very soon you`ll get help in the sky, there`ll be planes given to us,” he continued.
“The fault lies with the invaders,” Zelenskyy added. “But the responsibility for this lies also with those who have not been able to make an obviously necessary decision somewhere in the West, somewhere in the offices for 13 days. Those who have not yet secured the Ukrainian sky from Russian murderers. Those who did not save our cities from airstrikes, from these bombs, missiles, although they can.”
China Thinking About Buying or Increasing Stakes in Russian Energy
Sanctions and boycotts? Doesn’t matter because China will buy from Russia:
China is considering buying or increasing stakes in Russian energy and commodities companies, such as gas giant Gazprom PJSC and aluminum producer United Co. Rusal International PJSC, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beijing is in talks with its state-owned firms, including China National Petroleum Corp., China Petrochemical Corp., Aluminum Corp. of China and China Minmetals Corp., on any opportunities for potential investments in Russian companies or assets, the people said. Any deal would be to bolster China’s imports as it intensifies its focus on energy and food security — not as a show of support for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine — the people said.
The discussions are at an early stage and won’t necessarily lead to a deal, the people said, requesting anonymity as the discussions aren’t public. Some talks between Chinese and Russian energy companies have started to take place, according to separate sources.
Source: Biden Will Ban Russian Oil
This will only hurt us even more:
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion. Energy exports have kept a steady influx of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.
Biden was set to announce the move as soon as Tuesday, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before an announcement. The White House said Biden would speak Tuesday morning to announce “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
The U.S. will be acting alone, but in close consultation with European allies, who are more dependent on Russian energy supplies. Natural gas from Russia accounts for one-third of Europe’s consumption of the fossil fuel. The U.S. does not import Russian natural gas.
Russia Threaten to Shut Off the Gas
Biden’s administration is open to banning Russian oil imports. It sounded like Europe would do something similar while sanctioning the energy sector in Russia. Well, it included loopholes.
Europe admitted it cannot live without Russian gas and oil. Putin will tighten his grip around them:
Russia has threatened to halt gas supplies to the West through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow on Monday suggested it had the “full right” to stop supplies and warned that oil prices could surge to $300 a barrel.
Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister, said his government had the “full right” to “impose an embargo” on gas supplies. He said the decision to shut off Nord Stream 1 has not yet been taken, and the pipeline is currently operating “at full capacity”.
“In connection with unfounded accusations against Russia regarding the energy crisis in Europe and the imposition of a ban on Nord Stream 2, we have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” Mr Novak said in a statement broadcast on state television.
It came after the US sought to ratchet up pressure on Vladimir Putin by saying the West was considering banning Russian oil imports. Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008.
“A rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” Mr Novak said.
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Comments
A democrat I know, mentioned how good the last jobs report was.
Since he is a member of the family, I didn’t say, “That’s great. Do you think the jobs will still exist after Russia situation goes nuclear? Do you think the wages will cover the cost of commuting?”
Wages are barely covering the cost of the commute NOW. I live out in the country and already have an hour and a half drive to get from home to the office in downtown Dallas. This surge in gas prices is killing me.
This would be suicide for Russia, it would never have the European market again because the Russian gas pipeline would be replaced with other supply sources. Short term pain (at least as bad if not much worst for Russia) for Europe, permanent pain for Russia.
While we can’t see through the fog of war this reveals sanctions are making Putin desperate.
What supplies would replace it? The Europeans will probably go into North Africa but there are not pipelines nor are their enough ships to carry oil and LNG to Europe. And, if they did hoover up the North African oil, that oil would quit going to China. So, the Chinese would instead start buying from Russian. It’s a sellers market.
Ships would still be lining up to purchase oil from Russia and Kazakhstan, if Lloyds had not designated the area a warzone. Don’t believe what the Media says about a Russian oil boycott. The reality is they cannot find ship owners and captains who are willing to risk their vessels without insurance.
Gee. I wonder if Donald Trump gets tired of being wrong? He said Europe would be vulnerable to Energy blackmail.
Whoops. Trump was right. Not wrong. My typing fingers were wrong.
1. Greece literally has the largest merchant marine in the world yes they have the ships. So Saudi, Mexican, and North African oil for a start.
2. Not a sellers market, EU has more than enough wealth to counter American pressure on Greece and Israel to get their pipeline back under construction, and you forgot Saudi Arabia, Canada and Mexico.
3. China has vast coal fields which they are willing to use, and they negotiate for prices pretty well.
This threat would if enacted remove Russian goods (not just gas) from non-Russian parts of Europe forever. Pipelines also are a lot more efficient than the Siberian Railway so a best case scenario is they sell less oil.
Russia may be advancing in the field but this threat is strong proof the sanctions are killing her.
Danny,
Long term, you may be correct that European Nations will find other sources of oil and Nat gas; the Germans have said as much. That means Russia has a window to act to achieve max pain as a counter to European/US sanctions that diminishes as each day passes.
The short term consequences of Russia cutting off the flow are dire. Europe would get cold very quickly; nightly low temps in Berlin are still currently below freezing. Their economies would collapse without Russian oil and Nat gas.
Greece has a large merchant fleet. So does the Seychelles. The issue is whether there are enough oil and LG tankers. Particularly the latter are in relatively short supply. Then there’s the issue of where they off-load. Europe doesn’t have the LNG facilities to sustain the deliveries that would be needed.
North Africa is a hot mess. The Libyans are embroiled in a long-term civil war (that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton helped to start). Oil/NG deliveries there are not guaranteed. Egypt doesn’t have enough. Algeria is close to pumping at peak.
Greece, Cyprus, and Israel won’t build the pipeline if the U.S. objects, precisely because the U.S. has so many levers to pull to put pressure on all three.
China indeed has coal, and they import a lot of coal. The issue isn’t coal, it’s generating stations. China is building those too but they take time.
The sanctions may kill Russia (for a while), but it’s like chemotherapy killing the cancer — not so healthy for the patient, either.
There are no other fucking supply sources for fucks sakes!
The dumb fucks leading every european nation made sure there were no other supply sources by banning fracking and making it economically pointless drilling for existing oil and gas.
Well done Europe.
If Russia can sell its oil and gas to China, the ban on Russian oil and gas by the West will have little effect. China will simply turn around and sell the oil and gas in the world market. There will not be a reduction in overall supply. Europe may be inconvenienced by having to buy the gas from China and trans-ship it rather than having it shipped directly by pipeline, but the supply will be there.
If the US really wanted to squeeze Russia (and ourselves), we would lean on China not to buy Russian oil and gas, but China of course will laugh at us because of how dependent we are on them for a great variety of manufactured products.
Europe doesn’t have the LNG off-load capability to take NG by ship. That’s why they need the NordStream pipelines.
Here we go with Biden showing the talking points about the economic impact of his energy policy failure:
1. Rising gas price at the pump?
Blame Putin
Blame ‘greedy oil companies’ for ‘price gouging’
2. Green agenda is the answer! Not.
3. We are pumping record oil; we can transition away from fossil fuels into green with minimum pain
Not even close review IEA data for yourself
In sum; Biden admin attempting to shift blame for energy policy failure to anyone but them. They fear the electoral consequences of spiking fuel/energy direct cost and the secondary cost; impact as an input for manufacturing, transport.
It makes sense. The admin has been captured by the far leftist portion of their party; apartment dwelling, big city residents who primarily use mass transit v personal car for their transportation and upper class who can purchase EV and/or have incomes high enough to weather the crisis. They don’t care about the rest of the nation.
The Obama, Biden, Clinton, McCain, Biden’s Slavic Spring. That said, it’s a negotiation, something avoided by the Kiev regime and Western backers, 32 trimesters late to mitigate progress and close the abortion fields, maybe.
Israel has discovered phenomenal amounts of natural gas offshore in its waters.
Here will be a pipeline built to transport that gas to Europe.
Soon if Russia interrupts supply.
Later if Biden objects
Not so well in the US either, what with Biden’s DoE threatening to withdraw nuclear power plant licenses.