Is Russia everyone’s best friend today? Will we notice the difference if our oil comes from Russia now it has secured a pipeline through to
Greece? It wasn’t so long ago that it halted oil supplies to Belarus after imposing hefty price rises.
At its height, the dispute hit Russian oil supplies to Germany, Poland, Ukraine and other European countries.
The closure of the pipe was condemned by the International Energy Agency as a “grave” incident, that the supply cut-off undermined faith in Russia as an oil exporter and was “something that should never have happened”.
Then there was another incident with Ukraine in 2006 which resulted in their gas supplies being cut off.
How reliant should we allow ourselves to become on Russia for our oil? Or is it gas, as both are mentioned in reports. Of course we should welcome free trade and global markets, but Gazprom is state controlled, it hardly operates on a level playing field.
America has expressed concerns about Europe becoming too reliant on the Russian energy giant Gazprom, but at the same time,they are collaborating on a nuclear fuel deal. So to what extent do we need Russia, or does Russia need us too?
The BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell makes some excellent points here about Russia and its gas empire:
“The Russian state-controlled giant, Gazprom, has a 40% stake in Wingas. That brings with it worries that Russia could use its gas to twist arms and get its own way, and that consumers could, quite literally, pay the price. At the moment 40% of Germany’s gas comes from Russia. In Britain we have all become pretty complacent with a glut of North Sea oil. It was only a couple of years ago that we started importing any gas, but the government predicts that by 2020 up to 90% of it could be imported. Russia is the most obvious source for the bulk of it.”
I once asked a Ukrainian friend how she felt about the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Nothing,” she replied. “Russia will always be Russia. Russia was no different in the days of the Tsars than it was with the Soviets. Russia is always to be feared, and never trusted.”
As a kid of the Cold War, those are my thoughts on the matter. I would hate to see other nations ‘forced’ to defer to ‘Mother Russia.’
Ian
Here the events regarding energy in the Ukraine last year had an immediate effect: the government cut the temperature we are allowed to heat our homes to from 20 to 19 C and in Modica we were told we could have the heating on for 9 hours a day, not 10 [from November to March].
Welshcakes, I am sure most of us here in the UK had no idea there were government-imposed restrictions on domestic heating temperatures nor hours of operation! How long has this been the case and how is it policed?
Funny, I was watching that report where the EU is trying to impose speed limits on German autobahns to reduce green house gases. Needless to say Germans are not amused, and BMW claim they have reduced emissions on their powerful (and fast) machines.
But staying on topic. Yes, the next war will not be about water – but about fossil fuels
hmmm the next one? I mean the one after kuwait, … Afghanistan, and Iraq.
David, it has been the case in Italy for as long as I can remember and that’s a long time! The restrictions are said to be in place to save energy but I have days when I am convinced it is to make life awkward! Different areas of Italy are allowed to “light up” – ie., put their heating on, at different points during the winter, so the generally colder north switches on about a month before we are officially allowed to do so. Then each town imposes limits on how long you can have your heating on for each day. But the 20 C limit applies all over Italy, reduced by one degree by central government last year as I said. Private homes are not checked up on, but if you live in an apartment block where the heating in each flat is not “autonomo” then the rules will be adhered to, with your heating automatically coming on for about 2 hours in the early morning and then off again until about 6pm. [My flat is “autonomo”.] I think businesses can be checked and you often go into shops and see the staff shivering in their coats in winter!
Ellee- I hope there isn’t a tinge of Russophobis here.
I find it quite alarming that the media encourages us to reignite our cold war paranoias about Russia- a country whose friendship can only be valuable to the west.
Putin is not Stalin, he’s a guy doing his best to bring his country back to where it should be- and doing a good job with it too. So, there’s along way to go, but we should finally accept Russia as one of the good guys.
In the world we live in, it’s folly not to.
If we continue to rtely on Oil, it is inevitable that RRussia is going to be our best bet here- far more reliable than the misddle east.
But then of course, there’s nuclear…
Sense of Deja vu, anyone?
David, I forgot to say that most central heating is by gas here, so you might think that if you lived in one of the non-autonomous-heating blocks of flats, you could just buy an electric space heater or two. And so you could, only that would restrict you as to what other appliances you can have switched on, as we are restricted to 3kw per home. [You can buy more but that puts you on a higher tariff so friends have advised me not to do it.] It just means that you have to think about what you have got switched on at the same time – for instance, I can’t have the oven and the washing machine on together and I’d never had to think before about how much electricity an electric kettle uses! – otherwise the power supply will just go. The first thing that struck me when I was “home” for a visit in October was how everyone leaves everything switched on nearly all the time in Britain – and I used to, too! So maybe the Italians are doing their bit in this! [I have posted on all this but can’t remember where on my blog!]
Welshcakes, I had no idea you had all those restrictions, it’s true about people here leaving applicances on in the home.
Joe, I’m not convinced about Putin like you, I know English bloggers who live there say he is doing a good job, but how can his country justify switching off gas/oil supplies to other countries? Are you not concerned that could happen to other parts of Europe if we fell out. After all, the Litvinenko affair still has to be resolved, though it probably never will be.
A quick factoid that may give a bit of perspective: we imported about one third of our gas (from Norway) until the 1990’s when we became self-sufficent (your Mardell quote – it was only a couple of years ago that we started importing any gas – invites the inference that we’ve never been importing until recently).
Obviously Norway is a different kettle of fish to Russia, but I don’t recall large-scale imports giving rise even to comment, let alone disquiet.
Diversification is the key.
Hi Elle,
didn’t mean to intrude or intervene so often on William’s post, but Alan ‘kept’ prompting me – lol!
Didn’t mean to rattle any cages or step on too many toes … but so often double standards appear when talking about international policy or geo-politics.
PS – Putin & Russia have been criticised over the last few years for using their economic or natural ‘resources’ muscle aggressively to influence the previous ‘satellite’ states, but at least they haven’t invaded anyone lately to impose the soviet will (or rule of law)
Q9, I’m delighted you enjoyed the post and responded to comments, it’s not a problem. Regarding Putin, country’s can be held to ransome in different ways, not just the might of its armed forces, and whatever that might entail.