“The shortage of raw materials will only get worse”: how the West is trying to eliminate energy dependence on Russia

Former US President Donald Trump, speaking to his supporters in Wyoming, stated that the Russian Federation is now receiving super profits from the sale of hydrocarbons.

“With the current oil prices, Russia is making a fortune,” Trump said, adding that Moscow has switched to a new mechanism for paying for gas supplies from unfriendly states.

“It only accepts payments in its own currency, in rubles.”

In turn, Bloomberg reported that many EU countries are yielding to Russia's demands to pay for blue fuel in rubles.

According to the columnist for the publication, Europe's attempts to "punish Putin" fall short of its rhetoric.

“Member states are failing to deliver on their promise to deliver a painful blow to President Vladimir Putin, namely the lucrative energy industry.

Attention (mostly.

) is riveted on Hungary's unwillingness to support sanctions, but other countries give in to Putin's demand to pay for gas in rubles, ”the newspaper writes.

Bloomberg concludes that this state of affairs "does no honor" to the European Union and highlights the limitations of the EU's plan to back up harsh rhetoric with actions that require unanimous approval of all members of the association.

“On the eve of the two-day summit, which begins on Monday, some leaders are leaning towards a less stringent agreement that will allow further deliveries through the key (oil.

) pipeline to Hungary and other countries,” the agency notes.

It is specified that the European Union has proposed to postpone the imposition of restrictions on oil imports through the key Druzhba pipeline in order to "satisfy objections from Hungary" and reach an agreement on the issue of the sixth sanctions package against Moscow, the adoption of which has stalled.

At the same time, the EU proposes to ban offshore oil supplies from Russia in the coming months, the agency writes, citing an anonymous source.

At the same time, Bloomberg predicts that, despite the sanctions, Russia will earn more from energy exports than in 2021.

• Oil tankers at the oil loading terminal of the transshipment complex in the Krasnodar Territory

• RIA News

• © Vitaliy Timkiv

"Collective Suicide"

Recall that in March the EU countries decided to gradually eliminate dependence on Russian energy resources.

And on April 8, the EU approved the fifth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which included a ban on the import of Russian coal, as well as other solid fossil fuels from Russia from August 2022.

After that, Brussels began to discuss possible restrictions on oil and gas supplies from Russia, however, as the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell emphasized, there is still no consensus on these issues in the EU.

In early May, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation would include, in particular, restrictions on Russian oil.

In addition, he announced the EU's plans to "put an end" to dependence on energy resources from the Russian Federation, promising to diversify supplies.

At the same time, the ex-head of LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, made an assessment that the EU, in the event of an embargo on Russian oil, will not find a replacement for it even in the medium term.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, on the air of Sputnik radio, even called the alleged refusal of the EU countries from Russian oil "collective suicide".

“These are suicidal tendencies.

This can be afforded by people who do not have thinking, and experts and expertise are present in the EU, ”said Zakharova.

At the same time, as analyst Robert Rapier said in an article for the American portal Oil Price, Russia's oil and gas export revenues hit a record in April, despite Western sanctions.

• European Commission

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Westend61

Recall, in addition to the EU embargo on Russian coal, restrictive measures against Moscow in the field of energy were also introduced by the United States, imposing a ban on the import of oil, gas and other energy carriers.

At the same time, the head of the White House, Joe Biden, acknowledged in early March that this step would also hit the United States.

The United Kingdom and Canada also initiated sanctions against Russian energy resources.

"Europe creates nervousness"

According to experts, all these restrictions have already led to an increase in the shortage of energy resources on the world market, which is why their prices began to rise.

“The cost of oil and other energy sources is already so high, and the West still does not allow some Russian goods to enter its market, and this automatically leads to an even greater increase in prices.

This heated up the situation, and now Europe, even just discussing a possible oil embargo from the Russian Federation, worsens the situation and creates nervousness in the market, not to mention what will happen if the EU announces real restrictions,” said the director of the National Energy Institute Sergey Pravosudov.

According to the interlocutor of RT, by such actions the West harms primarily its own citizens.

“After the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions in the United States, prices for gasoline and other fuels have risen sharply.

Under such conditions, they began to use their energy reserves, which also affected world prices.

If Europe decides to impose any sanctions against Russian oil, the cost of energy resources in the EU and in the West as a whole will become even higher.

The fact is that there are almost no free volumes of energy carriers in the world,” Pravosudov noted.

In his opinion, even if the European Union restricts the supply of Russian oil only by sea, this will still negatively affect the market, and the volume of smuggling supplies will increase.

“Grey schemes will operate - many factories in Europe were built specifically for Russian oil, and if it is banned, it is not clear what to do with these enterprises,” the expert said.

According to him, the situation in the gas industry for Europe looks even more difficult, because there is no worthy alternative to fuel from the Russian Federation.

“We already see that the largest consumers have begun to pay with Russia in rubles so as not to overpay for gas,” the analyst says.

In turn, an expert at the Financial University under the Russian government and a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, Igor Yushkov, in a commentary on RT, called the arguments of Hungary fair, which is blocking sanctions against Russian oil, arguing that the state simply cannot function normally.

“The EU is faced with the need for some kind of compromise with Budapest.

Therefore, they want to make an exception for the Druzhba pipeline.

At the same time, not only Hungary receives oil through it, but also the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, from where raw materials can generally be supplied throughout Europe.

Therefore, in the end it will turn out that most of the EU still buys Russian oil, ”Yushkov explained.

• The symbol of the Druzhba oil pipeline near the city of Mozyr, Gomel region

• RIA News

• © Egor Eremov

Against the backdrop of all the efforts of the West directed against Russian energy resources, according to Yushkov, one can notice an interesting paradox.

“It lies in the fact that the more Western countries put pressure on Russia, the more it earns.

Due to the fact that the Russian Federation exports less energy resources to the West, their prices have increased even more.

And if the West needs more affordable energy prices, it will need to lift anti-Russian sanctions so that the Russian Federation produces more and exports more.

Only with such saturation of the market, prices will go down, ”the expert explained.

However, given the current realities, the cost of resources will only increase, Yushkov predicts.

“The shortage of this raw material in the world will only get worse.

At the same time, the Russian Federation will be able to diversify its supplies, including through China and India.

The EU, on the other hand, will look for alternatives to Russian energy resources for a long time and will not be able to completely replace them in the coming years,” the analyst concluded.