Natural gas prices are way up; reserves are way down; winter is around the corner; and energy traders, policy watchers, and regional experts are getting nervous […]
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“Afghanistan withdrawal heightens Zelensky’s fears of dwindling support from Washington” “… Ukraine has fought an eight-year war against Russia and Russian-backed militants …. Yet even before the chaotic pullout from Kabul, alarm was spreading … over fears … [that] Biden wanted to focus more on other foreign policy issues, especially … China. The first warning sign … came … when […]
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“Europe’s border tax and China’s carbon-neutral ambitions might just force a fossil fuel giant to face climate facts.” “… Sooner than expected, Putin’s hydrocarbon-dependent regime has found itself watching key markets slip away as China targets net-zero emissions and Europe introduces measures including a levy on heavy industry imports that fail to meet its climate protection standards. Having lauded the […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax) – The concentration of oil products in the Black Sea following a spill in the area of Novorossiysk is decreasing due to a storm and heavy rains, the head of the WWF Russia program for corporate environmental responsibility, Alexei Knizhnikov told Interfax on Friday. “There is a very strong storm happening now in the vicinity of […]
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(Oilprice.com – Simon Watkins – Aug. 10, 2021) There was always something that did not look quite right about Lukoil’s recent announcement that it was going to withdraw from Iraq’s huge West Qurna 2 oil field, located 65 kilometers northwest of the southern port of Basra and with roughly 14 billion barrels of reserves in place. So it has proven, […]
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The European Union, Russia’s largest trading partner, recently proposed a major new carbon tax that could cost Russia’s economy hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars […]
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Putin’s troubles are far more complicated than overseeing shrinking petro-revenues and an aging nuclear arsenal […]
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(Oilprice.com – Felicity Bradstock – July 25, 2021) Late in the race, Russia has recently announced investments targeting electric vehicle (EV) growth in an attempt to catch up with the transition across the rest of Europe. Russia is expected to start work on its EV infrastructure creation, starting in Moscow. The city plans to install 200 EV charging stations annually, […]
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“The U.S. and Germany reached a bilateral agreement on Nord Stream 2 on July 21 that will allow the pipeline to be completed without further U.S. sanctions. Nord Stream 2 will pump 55bn cubic metres per year of Russian gas to Germany when it reaches full capacity. … politically controversial as Russia wants … to divert as much gas … […]
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“The U.S. and Germany have reached an agreement allowing completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, officials from both countries say.” “…. The Biden administration [reportedly] will effectively waive Washington’s longstanding opposition to … Nord Stream 2 … ending years of speculation over … the project, which has come to dominate European energy-sector forecasts. Germany … [reportedly] will […]
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Russia must prepare for major revenue losses brought by a global push toward renewable energy and subsequent fall in demand for fossil fuels … Siluanov warned […]
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The United States has opposed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea that will bring Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing land routes through Ukraine […]
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… a cybercriminal group that U.S. authorities said operates from Russia penetrated a pipeline operator on the U.S. East Coast, locking its systems and demanding a ransom. … caus[ing] a shutdown … [leading] to a spike in gas prices, panic buying, and localized fuel shortages […]
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“For Moscow it is the last geopolitical battleground where it holds the advantage over Washington and Beijing” “… [N]ew and refurbished bases [are] meant to service the Kremlin’s ambitions in the resource-rich Arctic. … combined to form a new military district … under … the Northern Fleet, Russia’s foremost Arctic naval force[] … [with fleet] headquarters … on the Kola […]
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“Russia’s Sergei Lavrov claimed this week that ‘this is our land and our waters’ as NATO allies boost military activity” “… Russian and U.S. diplomats … [signal] rising tensions between [powers] racing to seize Arctic resources …. Arctic Council [participants] weren’t due to discuss security. But … Russia’s … Sergei Lavrov declared … the Arctic ‘is our land and our […]
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“Completion of pipeline would be ‘victory for Russia’ and a ‘personal loss’ for Biden, says Zelensky.” “Ukraine has stepped up … pressure on Washington over the contentious Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, appealing to … Congress to maintain sanctions against the project. The Ukrainian parliament … overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling on U.S. lawmakers to override […]
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“Beijing and Moscow sense an opportunity in the face of fading U.S. influence and Covid fallout.” “China’s leading diplomat [Yang Jiechi, head of China’s central committee for foreign affairs,] will travel to Russia … for security talks, the latest sign of deepening [Sino-Russian] ties …. Xi Jinping and … Putin … [recently had a] video-link launch of a nuclear energy […]
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… [T]he rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council … intergovernmental forum … will pass from Iceland to Russia for a two-year term. … [as] the organization grapples with multiple challenges and Russia-West relations have hit another historic low […]
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… Russia is one of the three biggest oil exporters in the world, alongside Saudi Arabia and the United States […]
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“The battle over natural gas: Worsening relations between Europe and Russia are reflected in tensions over energy, in which US demands, Russian and German interests, the EU’s neoliberal doctrine and the climate emergency all play a part.” “… The Russia-Ukraine conflict … the Nord Stream 2 pipeline … and tensions … over offshore reserves near Cyprus, have put natural gas […]
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Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to leadership more than 20 years ago, tensions have increased steadily between Russia and the United States […]
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Russian oil production might never recover to pre-coronavirus levels, the country’s Energy Ministry has forecast […]
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Russia is slashing … estimates for domestic crude oil, gas, and coal production for 2021 and 2022, according to … the government’s program for energy development […]
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… Putin’s strategy is simple: deny, deny, deny[,] [w]hile other fossil-fuel dependent economies scramble to diversify or race to build up clean energy infrastructure in a bid to put themselves at the forefront of the coming renewable revolution […]
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The OPEC+ group of oil producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has agreed to increase oil output gradually over the next months […]
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Moscow is busy highlighting the northern sea route and Nordstream as alternatives for world trade […]
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The Kremlin wants to use the grounding of the Ever Given ship to promote its Northern Sea Route and counter European concerns over Nord Stream 2. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – March 26, 2021) Almost $300 million worth of Russian oil products are waiting to enter the Suez Canal, which remains closed following the grounding of the […]
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“As a dictator, … Putin has continued what he failed to do as a KGB agent in the GDR [East Germany] … his fight against a freedom-loving Germany and a united Europe. For years, Putin has been running riot with impunity in [Germany]. … buying off influential ex-politicians with lucrative oil projects, such as Nord Stream 2. … support[ing] the […]
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“Rising temperatures in the Arctic are a warning sign for the planet. The melting ice has an economic upside for Russia.” “Russia … fourth-biggest [greenhouse gas] emitter … [also faces Arctic] temperatures … warming more than twice [that of global rates] …. [With] more than a fifth of the planet’s forests, Russia has [had] two consecutive years of record-breaking wildfires […]
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“The Biden administration has to decide whether to alienate Germany … continuing … Trump administration[] sanctions on companies building Germany’s gas pipeline from Russia. … Hundreds of feet below the surface of the Baltic Sea is an enormously long pipeline, snaking from northern Russia to Germany. … Nord Stream 2 … [would] roughly double Europe’s energy supply when … finished. […]
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Russia’s gas giant Gazprom plans to commission the controversial natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 this year, … TASS reported […]
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Russia’s gas exports to Europe hit a record high in January, according to … VTB Capital, as pressure over … Nord Stream 2 … continues to mount […]
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Crude oil prices will trade in a range between $45 a barrel and $80 a barrel in the period until 2035, under a set of scenarios developed by the Russian energy ministry […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 25 (Interfax) – The structure of energy consumption worldwide is unlikely to change significantly, with hydrocarbons all the same set to remain in demand for a long period, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday during a meeting of the government with university students to mark the occasion of the country’s Students’ Day. “The whole world is absorbed […]
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“Russia is preparing to make the earliest-ever shipment of liquefied natural gas to Asia, taking advantage of thinning ice in the Arctic … paving the way for a record-long navigation season …. [S]uper-chilled cargo from Novatek PJSC’s Yamal LNG facility in early May will beat last year’s record for the start of eastbound voyages through the Northern Sea Route … […]
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… The U.S. imposed sanctions at the end of 2019 in an effort to halt the construction of the pipeline, which will transport Russian gas to Europe […]
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“Moscow’s attitude towards Minsk had cooled in wake of protests against Lukashenko” “… Lukashenko[,] … rul[ing] Belarus since 1994, has faced massive street protests and unprecedented public anger since … [a] presidential election … [that] western countries said was falsified. His regime’s brutal crackdown … prompted … U.S., EU and UK … sanctions … and even sparked [Kremlin] anger …. […]
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(Oilprice.com – Tsvetana Paraskova – Dec. 21, 2020) The widening U.S. sanctions on the Russia-led natural gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 are a kind of hybrid warfare used by the United States, Vladimir Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “This is indeed a variant of hybrid warfare, it is used as a hybrid war by the United […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) – The third expert meeting of the joint project of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and Interfax titled ‘Russia and the World: A Professional Conversation’ took place on December 21 with the special guest Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. The experts discussed the protracted oil demand recovery on […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) – Russia needs to develop its domestic market and diversify energy exports amid the rise in the global climate agenda as well as the decline in energy demand owing to advances in technology, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. “As part of climate resilience, certain requirements are being […]
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(Oilprice.com – Irina Slav – Dec. 17, 2020) Russia is successfully weaning itself off oil revenues, President Vladimir Putin said today during an annual end-of-the-year news conference, as quoted by RT. “This means that, while we’re not completely there, we are nonetheless starting to get off the so-called oil and gas needle,” Putin said, adding, “If someone still wants to […]
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… Confronted with a series of delays, oftentimes quite problematic, … the Russian Energy Ministry has started to gradually soften up long-term objectives […]
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“New measures target companies that would provide services or funding for vessels working on Nord Stream 2” “… [2019] U.S. Sanctions … focused on pipe-laying vessels for Nord Stream 2 and halted the $10.5 billion [natural gas] pipeline[,] … designed to transmit Russian gas to Germany, 100 miles short … beneath the Baltic Sea. … [A] State Department [web announcement] […]
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Denmark cleared … the final hurdle to Nord Stream 2 potentially starting operations in Danish waters, while the U.S. continues its attempt to stop the Russia-led natural gas pipeline project […]
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(Oilprice.com – Irina Slav – Sept. 28, 2020) All players on the global energy market need to act together to tackle the effects of the pandemic on oil demand, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at a virtual meeting of G20 energy ministers this weekend. “Our task, as the leaders of the energy industry, is to show stamina and solidarity […]
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(Oilprice.com – Vanand Meliksetian – Sept. 24, 2020) The ongoing demonstrations in Belarus and the looming instability are a threat to both Russia and the EU. Moscow prefers the continuation of Lukashenko’s regime due to political reasons. Europe, on the other hand, faces an energy crisis if the situation escalates which could lead to a disruption of supplies. Belarus’ geographic […]
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“[G7] [f]oreign ministers … issued a joint statement … condemning … ‘the confirmed poisoning’ of … Navalny. … sa[ying] Germany … has concluded … he was ‘the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve-agent of the “Novichok” group, a substance developed by Russia.’ It called on Russia to investigate who is responsible, ‘bearing in mind Russia’s commitments under the […]
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(oilprice.com – Viktor Katona – Sept. 8, 2020) The issue of US-Russia energy ties has been enjoying a bit of media spotlight as President Trump accused Democrats in New England of purchasing Russian crude to the detriment of national economic interests. Technically, this claim is true only to a marginal extent – most of the Russian crude exports to the […]
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The confirmation that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok has heightened calls for Germany to review its support for Nord Stream 2 […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Sept. 4, 2020) Russia and Belarus are preparing to reopen borders that were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic and are discussing rerouting Belarusian oil exports through Russia, news outlets reported after high-level talks Thursday. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his delegation met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his government in Minsk amid continuing […]
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