JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia should rethink its role in new energy economy” – The National (UAE)/ Robin Mills
“Global gas market remains oversupplied and renewables only makes up a small part of the country’s energy mix.”
“Russia’s energy sector has so far come through the pandemic better than some might have expected. … Opec+ … has shored up oil revenue and the rouble. But [Russia’s] longer-term outlook is cloudy, both in petroleum and its unstrategic approach to new energy. … [N]ew pipeline[] Turkish Stream[] began delivering … in January … to bypass Ukraine. But Ankara’s large gas find in the Black Sea … might diminish its need for Russian supplies. … Nord Stream II … under the Baltic Sea to Germany … 94 per cent complete … is beset by U.S. sanctions on … pipe-laying vessels … in a race to finish …. The Russian gas sector is increasingly exposed. Methane leaks and flaring give it a high carbon footprint … [D]emand in its main market, Europe, will fall in competition with renewables and improved efficiency. In March, the Energy Ministry ordered its main energy companies to look seriously into hydrogen ….”
The author writes that other Russian low-carbon energy consists almost entirely of nuclear and hydropower.