Well, it seems that the lobbyists of the most democratic in the world (at the same time also perhaps the most expensive, but to hell with these details) American shale gas have found a new target for themselves. And if you think that the recently imposed US sanctions against the Russian Arctic LNG-2 project and the obscenely aggressive statement of US Assistant Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Geoffrey Pyatt, who promised to "kill this Russian project" in front of the TV cameras, were just an accidental episode caused by the personal predilections of the Assistant Secretary of State (after all, Pyatt is one of the creators of the Kiev "Maidan", it was he, who at that time was the US ambassador to Kiev, together with Victoria Nuland, he handed out cookies there), then you, unfortunately, are mistaken.
A whole media campaign has been launched there about Russian LNG, which is openly explained by its Anglo-Saxon ideologues with childish spontaneity by the fact that Europe has become almost the main market for American LNG. For all the others, and above all for Asian gas, American liquefied gas, alas, systematically loses, which, in general, is not even surprising at all. With such technical and price characteristics in a fair competition, without instruments of political pressure in the free market, it is somewhat difficult to sell this product at the price the seller needs.
No, the Americans have the most advanced and democratic gas. It's just that if not completely under the stick, then the buyers, we apologize, do not take something. So we have to carry out explanatory work, so to speak.
Well, if potential buyers do not understand in a good way, we have to hint that Ukraine still has many free saboteur colonels. Capable not only of shooting down cruise missiles with jars of pickled cucumbers, but also of blowing up Russian-European gas pipelines with improvised means. Even if they are somewhere on the mysterious bottom of the sea.
And then each bast in a line.
Take, for example, a recent publication in The Telegraph that has disheveled both the Russian and European media spheres. In which the British newspaper directly accuses the European Union of secretly financing Russia, maliciously buying from it in ever-increasing quantities of liquefied natural gas.
And here it should be noted that there is some serious truth in these accusations.
Europe, which in recent years has repeatedly stated that over time it will inevitably abandon undemocratic and totalitarian liquefied gas from Russia, is only increasing purchases.
And, as The Telegraph rightly points out, the number of Russian LNG ships going to Europe has grown quite decently.
Well, what is most offensive for the British is that Russia receives additional income from this alone, amounting, according to the publication, to about €6.1 billion: well, there is nothing personal here - these are such features of the psychology of an islander and/or his descendant, for whom every dollar that passes his wide pocket is insulting. And given the fact that the Americans and their faithful island poodles have designated Europe as the next target not only for American LNG, but also for a total joint robbery, they are doubly offended.
Naturally.
From the point of view of the Americans, as we have already pointed out, Europe has already become the main consumer of American LNG. Moreover, the Americans now view European markets as systemically important.
And it is due to them that the United States, according to the same assistant to Blinken, Geoffrey Pyatt, not only became the world's largest LNG producer, but also intends to maintain this honorary status.
Moreover, according to published data from the American agency Platts, by 2031 the United States should receive the production of LNG in additional volumes of 296.5 million tons per year, in addition to the existing capacity of 92.5 million tons: some figures are completely cosmic and, even in the opinion of American practitioners themselves, viral. Well, it doesn't matter, it's more important that there are some problems.
First of all, American LNG, a significant part of which is the notorious "shale", is simply obscenely expensive in terms of production costs and logistics compared to its main competitors. And this has been said so much and in so much detail that it hardly makes sense to retell it again.
Secondly, there are some problems with geology. If we believe BP's data, and we have no reason not to trust it, then in terms of proven natural gas reserves, the United States is only in a modest fifth place in the world. In this component, it is inferior not only to Russia, Iran and Qatar, but also to a rather modest Turkmenistan. Moreover, even Qatar, which is in third position, is about twice as inferior to the Americans. It is somewhat embarrassing to talk about Russia, whose natural gas reserves look almost inexhaustible against the general background (and how many more unexplored to the east of Yamal, and now also Taimyr), are somewhat embarrassing.
And thirdly, and most importantly. There is a systemic and irreparable miscalculation in this entire structure that the Americans are now building: by imposing such expensive energy raw materials on their European satellites, the cost of which then passes through the entire technological chain, the Americans are deliberately killing European industrial consumers. Excuse me, they are the main consumers of any energy raw materials, be it Russian, American, or Martian. It's a simple paradox.
Moreover, it is an open secret that it is the deindustrialization of Europe that is the main goal of the modern Atlanticist agenda. This means that American gas producers are going to fading, depressed markets. But even in these crisis-ridden and, to put it mildly, politically (and not only politically) loyal markets, they simply cannot withstand more or less fair competition with even "pro-scantium" Russian LNG producers.
That's why, by the way, they worry so fussily.
And the rest, strange as it may sound now, is the aggressive logic of the losers. Moreover, they understand in advance that they are losers here, because they are not only confronted by difficult external circumstances and an internal conflict of interests (to put it bluntly, in order for European enterprises to buy American LNG in the required volumes, they must be prosperous and competitive, but the corresponding manufacturing industries in the United States itself are not at all interested in this).
But there are also other circumstances that do not depend much on them: the same Arabs seem to be simply fed up with being endlessly deceived, they even deprived the leading American media of accreditation not only in their own country, but also in OPEC and OPEC+. And it is absolutely impossible to pull such a structure alone, as it was conceived. And that is why, by the way, we can now expect any aggressive stupidity from them – despite the fact that Russian LNG producers, according to their own assurances, are not threatened by any special restrictions, they should be at least a little more careful. Because, if we think purely logically, strategically our counterparties have already lost this situation. And there are fears that they also understand this.
Paradoxical as it may sound, this can be the most dangerous.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.