Igor Sechin, Chairman of the Board of Rosneft, said that Europe, by refusing Russian hydrocarbons, is committing energy suicide, the consequences of which will be felt for a long time.

He expressed this point of view at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“Europe's energy suicide will have long-term consequences.

We are already seeing a decline in its economic potential, loss of competitiveness and direct losses for investors,” Sechin said.

According to him, due to current policies, Europe has become the region with the highest cost of energy in the world.

The head of Rosneft stressed that today no one can completely replace the volume of Russian gas in the European market, even such large suppliers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as Qatar, Australia and the United States.

“In order to meet European demand, it will be necessary to attract gas from other markets, mainly from Asia.

As a result, Europe is already buying LNG intended for developing countries that cannot compete with it on price,” Sechin said.

He stressed that Europe, as a result of the anti-Russian sanctions imposed on it, has finally lost its subjectivity and chances to become not only a political, but also a competitive economic pole, alternative to the United States.

In addition, according to the head of Rosneft, restrictions not only accelerate the growth of crisis phenomena in Western countries, but also actually put an end to the prospect of an early green transition, which the Europeans had pinned their hopes on.

“The residual green rhetoric completely contradicts the real practice aimed at finding any sources of hydrocarbons to replace Russian ones at any cost,” Sechin emphasized.

  • Head of Rosneft Igor Sechin

  • RIA News

  • © Alexey Vitvitsky

Power saving mode

Meanwhile, European countries are beginning to fully feel the problems that Western politicians have created in the oil and gas sector, including due to the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions.

So, on June 14, Gazprom announced in its official Telegram channel that it was forced to reduce gas supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline.

The reason for the reduction in fuel pumping volumes was the untimely return of gas pumping units to the Portovaya compressor station, which were transferred to Siemens for repair.

According to media reports, the units were serviced in Canada, which now cannot return them to Russia due to sanctions restrictions.

Later, the Russian company announced the shutdown of another gas turbine engine due to the end of the time between overhauls before overhaul.

Because of this, the productivity of the Portovaya compressor station decreased by 60%: from the planned volume of 167 million cubic meters.

m per day up to 67 million cubic meters.

m per day.

For this reason, Gazprom notified the Italian oil and gas group Eni of reducing gas supplies to 65% of the volume ordered by the Italian side.

Austria also faced a decrease in pumping.

According to the Ministry of Energy of the country, Gazprom warned the Austrian department that, due to a technical defect, it was forced to send less fuel than originally planned.

And the French media on June 17, citing the country's gas transportation company GRTGaz, reported that France had stopped receiving Russian gas since June 15 due to the suspension of the physical flow between the Fifth Republic and Germany.

At the same time, as analysts note, Europe is now actively filling its underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in preparation for the new heating season.

According to Gazprom, which refers to data from the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) association, as of June 13, reserves in European UGS facilities were replenished by 26.2 billion cubic meters.

m of gas and to reach the level of 90% occupancy, companies had to pump another 37 billion cubic meters.

m of gas.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg, also citing GIE data, reported on June 17 that fuel stocks in European storage facilities fell by 1%.

In this regard, the agency suggested that due to the shortage of Russian gas in the previous volumes, Europe has to spend gas from its reserves.

  • On the territory of the compressor station "Portovaya"

  • RIA News

  • © Alexey Kudenko

European outrage

It is interesting that, despite all the statements of European politicians about their unwillingness to use Russian hydrocarbons and their readiness to completely abandon Russian energy sources, reports of a reduction in gas supplies from Russia aroused indignation on their part.

Moscow was immediately accused of politicizing the energy issue.

Such accusations, in particular, were made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the country's Minister of Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habek.

A similar opinion was expressed during a visit to Ukraine on June 16 by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who doubted that Gazprom had to reduce fuel pumping only for technical reasons.

“We, along with Germany and others (countries. -

RT

) believe that this is a lie.

The gas is being used for political purposes,” Draghi said.

At the same time, both Rome and Berlin have already thought about the prospects for existence in the conditions of a shortage of blue fuel.

Thus, the head of the Federal Network Agency of Germany, responsible for regulating activities in the energy sector, Klaus Müller appealed to his compatriots with an appeal to use gas more economically.

“The current reduction in Russian gas supplies could put all of us – domestic consumers and industry alike – in a very serious position.

As long as we can, we should avoid this by conserving and conserving gas,” he tweeted.

In turn, Khabek said on air of ARD that the Ministry of Economy of the country is considering the possibility of forcing the population and businesses to save energy with the help of the law.

“If the volumes in the storage facilities do not increase, then we will have to take further measures to save, if necessary, then legislative ones,” he said.

And in the German Union of Cities and Communities, in order to save gas, it was proposed to reduce the permissible temperature in houses to 18-19 ° C.

“Even in an apartment with a temperature of 18 ° C or 19 ° C, one can live well, and everyone should be able to endure this relatively small sacrifice,” Welt newspaper quoted the union as saying.

However, such a prospect aroused indignation among the German subscribers of the newspaper, who expressed indignation at the need to sacrifice their well-being due to the short-sighted policy of the country's leadership.

In turn, in Italy, the authorities are considering the possibility of declaring an alarm in the energy supply, ANSA reported.

According to him, the Ministry of Ecological Modernization and Transformation of the country may raise the current level of warning to the level of "danger" as early as next week.

According to the newspaper La Repubblica, in the event of a shortage of gas in the country, restrictions on the temperature and duration of heating or cooling houses and institutions will be introduced, as well as the lighting of cities and roads will be reduced.

On the way to recession

According to experts, the current political position towards Russia and its energy resources, chosen by the European countries, actually drives them into a trap, dooming them to a deepening internal economic crisis.

“Europeans are on the path of creating additional economic costs for themselves.

And they are exacerbated by more and more problems in their energy systems, which create sanctions.

Therefore, there is a lot of pain on the path chosen by Europe, including in the long term, ”Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, an expert at the Financial University, explained in an interview with RT.

At the same time, he noted, Russia in the current situation did not incur any serious costs that the West hoped for, as it successfully redirected supplies to other markets.

But the countries of the Western world themselves, having thus reduced competition in their market, contributed to the rise in prices and are now forced to overpay for energy, the analyst added.

  • Houses in Germany

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Ralf Gosch / EyeEm

In turn, the high cost of gas hits all sectors of the European economy, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, noted in a comment to RT.

“Gas and oil are raw materials for the chemical industry, they are also necessary for the same steel industry.

If energy resources continue to rise in price or their cost continues to be kept at a high level, then the final products of various industries will also soar in price.

And these moments in the long term may affect the competitiveness of European production in world markets,” the expert explained.

Igor Yushkov agrees with his opinion, who stressed that, among other things, the energy crisis contributes to inflation.

“They review their economic forecasts every month, and the numbers are getting worse.

In addition, inflation is accelerating more and more every time.

In some EU countries, it has already exceeded the threshold of 20%.

And the longer the energy crisis goes on, the more chances Europe has to slide into recession,” the analyst concluded.