China News Service, September 6 (Reporter Meng Xiangjun) Recently, due to the decision of the West to limit the price of Russian oil, the "Beixi-1" natural gas pipeline from the Baltic Sea to Germany was almost simultaneously cut off by the Russian side.
As the energy crisis becomes more and more serious, people in many European countries have launched demonstrations and strikes, and governments of various countries are under increasing pressure.
In the chaos, only one European country is calm...
[G7 decides to "take a gamble"]
On September 2, the finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) reached an agreement on the price limit of Russian oil for two purposes:
1. Put downward pressure on global energy prices and ensure the flow of Russian oil at lower prices;
Second, reduce the main source of funds for Russia's "special military operation" against Ukraine.
G7 announced plans to cap Russian oil prices.
Image source: Screenshot of the "Russia Today" report
Two months ago or even earlier, the United States and its allies planned to limit the price of Russian oil, with reference to marginal production costs and oil prices before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, intending to limit Russian oil prices to around $40 to $60 per barrel.
This trick actually has a "luck" component:
First, this move violates the law of market operation, and the market is not optimistic about such a mechanism.
Second, if the mechanism is poorly implemented, the effect could be counterproductive, prompting further spikes in energy prices.
Third, the aggressiveness of the West may intensify the situation, causing Russia to directly cut off supply and further worsen the energy crisis.
[Putin has long warned]
On the day G7 decided to limit the price, Gazprom (Gazprom for short) announced that during the maintenance of the "Beixi-1" pipeline turbine together with representatives of the turbine manufacturer Siemens, multiple oil leaks were found, which were originally repaired for three days. It became an indefinite "until troubleshooting" outage.
Data map: "Beixi-1" natural gas pipeline.
The German government questioned.
According to Siemens, the "oil leak" could be resolved, "it was not the technical reason for the shutdown".
The German side believes that Moscow is using this to "weaponize" the supply of natural gas.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned that the G7 plan was "absurd" and would lead to serious instability in the oil market.
For "unfriendly countries" that support price caps, Russia will stop supplying oil and deliver oil to countries that operate under market conditions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pointed out that proposals such as G7 restrictions on oil imports from Russia and price caps can only cause oil prices to soar like natural gas prices.
【Strikes, demonstrations, shutdowns】
Since the beginning of summer, Russia has gradually reduced the gas transmission to the "Beixi-1", and now it is completely out of service.
Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and other countries have all lost gas supplies from Russia.
Many people's grievances are rising, and the government's pressure is increasing.
On September 3, local time, tens of thousands of demonstrations broke out in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and the streets were blocked.
People protested against rising energy prices, called for the government to resign, opposed EU and NATO practices, and called for an end to sanctions on Russia.
The demonstrations even transcended political affiliation, with groups from the far right and the far left taking part.
Czech Prime Minister Fiala's government survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote the day before the demonstrations, with the opposition accusing the government of "doing nothing" to fight inflation.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Prague, Czech Republic, against the Czech government, the European Union and NATO.
Image source: Screenshot of Reuters report
Concerned about inflation, energy, pensions and unemployment insurance, France's five major trade unions and their youth organizations began discussions to hold large-scale strikes and demonstrations on September 29.
The British Chamber of Commerce forecasts that the country expects GDP growth of 3.3% in 2022, down significantly from 7.4% the year before, with inflation likely to soar to 14% due to rising household spending, falling wages, weak export prospects and weakening business confidence .
Germany's CDU leader Merz pointed out that ordering new fuel elements for the country's three nuclear power plants will supply electricity to 20 million households.
But if German leaders continue to reject nuclear power "out of (environmental) ideology" and use electricity for heating, the country will face the threat of blackouts in winter.
To save energy, the facade lighting of iconic buildings in Berlin, Germany has been reduced.
Image source: ICphoto
Workers such as Germany's Lufthansa, the Spanish public transport system, and the British Royal Mail went on strike one after another.
In addition, there is another thing facing a "strike", that is, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the world's largest particle accelerator.
The $4.4 billion machine is a high-energy physics device that studies particles. If the power grid is suddenly paralyzed due to instability, the loss will be immeasurable.
Scientists had to decide carefully, or shut it down.
[Vucic's "Foresight"]
After Gazprom announced the supply cutoff, the natural gas futures price once broke through US$3,500 per thousand cubic meters, close to the historical high of US$3,892.
Amid the panic, however, there was one country that was different, and that was Serbia.
Serbia's gas company president, Bayatovic, said the country is "almost fully stocked with natural gas for the heating season" and has reserves of 350 million cubic meters of natural gas in Hungary, with extraction continuing.
Serbian President Vucic.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
And, it is said, Serbia has "never" bought gas in the market for more than $900 per thousand cubic meters.
This time, the country got the "best price in Europe", which was calculated according to the oil formula agreed upon by Serbian President Vucic and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vucic said at the end of August that Serbia had started to stockpile natural gas as early as May. If the price was not negotiated with Russia, it would have to buy gas at a price of 4,000 euros per 1,000 cubic meters. In that case, "the country has gone bankrupt."
According to a three-year contract with Russia, Serbia will receive about 63% of its natural gas needs, 2 billion cubic meters per year, at a price of 800 million euros.
(Finish)