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Ukraine Calls Russia's Bluff, Slashes Nat Gas Imports By 80%
Twice in recent years, Russia has suspended gas supplies, or notably raised prices, as the somewhat well-known "trump card" of Russia's oil and gas supply to Ukraine (and Europe for that matter) remains Putin's easiest option for clenching his iron-first against the divided nation. Following a pre-emptive move in November by Ukraine to diversify its energy supply, Russia had reduced the price of gas for the highly indebted Ukraine in December (to entice Ukraine under Russia's wing); but, after recent events, Dmitry Medvedev signaled on Monday that the price could be raised again. However, today we find that Ukraine's state oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has slashed gas imports from Russia's Gazprom by stunning 80% in February as Ukraine tries to show Russia it can't be pushed around... of course, with limited (and more expensive) alternative supplies, we fear this could well shoot them in the foot.
This action is similar to that taken in November (before the EU accession discussion)...
Russia and Ukraine waged two gas wars over prices in the winters of 2006 and 2009 (which lasted 3 weeks) over a claim Ukraine was late in paying.
...
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that if Gazprom refuses to revise its contract, Ukraine would stop importing gas from Russia. In a step away from energy dependence on Russia, last week Ukraine signed a $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron.
Ukraine is speeding up its effort to diversify its supply, and has looked at different exporters, fracking, new offshore projects in the Black Sea, as well as new LNG terminals and pipelines to diversify supply. Ukraine imports more than half of its gas from Russia, but under Viktor Yanukovich’s leadership, has intentionally scaled down Gazprom imports 40 percent over ‘unfair prices’.
And now today,
Ukraine's state oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has slashed gas imports from Russia's Gazprom to 28 million cubic meters per day as of February 24 from 147 million, two Russian industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
They said Naftogaz had gradually reduced its imports from 147 million cubic meters as of February 1, but did not offer a reason for the cuts.
...
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev hinted on Monday that gas prices, reduced as part of a Russian bailout in December, may revert to higher levels.
Ukraine consumes about 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year, and more than half is imported from Russia. Gazprom exported 161.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe last year.
A Gazprom official declined to comment on Naftogaz import volumes but said Russian gas transit to Europe was unaffected.
So simply put, they want to show Russia they can't be pushed around... the trouble is, of course, that with alternative supply routes in short-supply (and only more expensive alternatives available)...
...they may well be shooting themselves in the foot. That and the whole being out of money thing too won't help. Finally, as everyone knows by now, Russia does have the "trump card" no matter how hard to get the Ukraine plays:
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Do you have a clue how long it takes to build an LNG terminal?
And BTW, Qatar has one, and a fertilzer plant, and cheaper natgas that our shale stuff, and still wants a pipeline to Europe.
It is not Obama's fault that it snows in Minnesota, nor does snow in Minnesota disprove global warming.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! WTF! What the FucK??? What do they think, Old Uncle Sam started this shit storm, he'll be kind enough to heat our houses too?
No, they're just going to burn fucking collaboraters for heat now.
Collaborators?? All I see is folks that either prefer Uncle Sam's Yankee Doodle Dick up their ass vs Putin's KGB Kock. What do Ukranians actually want for themselves?
These folks just threw out some fucking leech and a bunch of them got shot, burned and the fuck beat out of them doing it. And you, you stormed the barricades (in spirit, with your cheetos stained dick and keyboard) and then you have the fucking moxie to mouth off about them taking it up the ass?
I fully agree with you about them determining their own course. I don't see how you're corrolating the US is puppeteering them from half a world away, when Putin couldn't control them via Yankoff from next door.
"Yankoff fought the russians, he got prices lowered". Yeah, and the fucking Dems, or repubs, represent you. It's all fucking Kabuki. Yankoff was Putins puppet, else he would have drank a fucking polonium and tonic years ago.
Except that part where those people risked it all to free themselves. THAT was real.
And as far as what they want? It seems to me that they want to stick their finger into the eye of the Bear. Again. Who benefits from this gas embargo? Not Russia. Especially if it's fucking up their sales to the rest of the EU. What happens to the price of a good or service during a supply glut? Again, Russia loses as prices fall, customers find alternates.
I'm not into rhetorical flame wars. I deal with reason and logic, so I might just suggest you educate yourself.
US spent $5 billion to destabilize Ukrainehttp://www.globalresearch.ca/the-struggle-for-ukraine-protests-made-in-germany-america-and-the-eu/5360501
Fuck the EU’: US diplomat Victoria Nuland's phonecall leaked - videoWell, that cinches it! We know that all of our top secret plans are posted on the internet. Somewhere. It's a tri-lateral commission law, you see. Makes it fair for everyone. So all we need are just a few brave, hardy individuals to scour the interwebs and dig the truth out of there.
Your accredation process for vetting websites is just an electronic version of the same shit that "academics" use in the shining halls of higher education. Professor A cites Professor B, who are then in turn both cited by Professor C. Hands wash the other hands.
All a bunch of shit. Which is why we have idiocy preached as wisdom, such as global warming, building your personal credit score, and all of lifes problems can be solved in a short 90 minutes by a magical negro or retard.
don't patronize me with your lofty moral code, dickbeat. This is fight club. Maybe you'll learn and win next time.
Man you seem like a miserable cunt. Good luck with that
I guess LFMayor is new to this whole "finance revolution(s) in foreign countries" thing.
Seeing how utterly corrupt their leaders are I somehow doubt they needed much "Yankee" influence.
If I were in the Ukraine, and I was a citizen, I would be Destroying the Pipelnes so that the Natural Gas from Russia could not possibly be restored. Hell those are prime targets in any Civil War...including the USA.
I like Natural Gas and the Detonation Potential.
Sales to Western Europe would be cut and that would destroy a lot of Russia's income.
Do you think Europe and Ukraine buy natural gas from Russia just for shits and giggles? Does necessity not come in to play here at all? I'm hoping I just missed your /sarc tag on that post
So you'd rather take that Big Russian Pipeline right up your manhole? Would you do it for the Children? The poor, freezing Children of Europe, having to break the crust of ice on their tiny bowls of gruel during this harshest of Global Warming Winters?
For clarification, no sarc tag here for you to miss, Oh Sun Tsu of The Game of Thrones and Pipelines.
Well it will be interesting when you will have to learn to do without, won't it?
The Russians seem to find this funny. Look at the video where the Russian MILITARY is singing a song about Cutting off the Gas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RD5ONjv8M
Oh don't get me wrong. Putin is a thug and murderer. I'm just afraid Ukraine is cutting off its nose to spite its face. And my mantra on this whole thing is like Dr. Paul said yesterday, "So let’s keep our hands off of Ukraine and let them solve their own problems!"
Don't misunderstand me. You see it was our CIA that went into the Ukraine and helped cause this. So "Let's keep are hands of the Ukraine" is spoken way too late.
The best part of fear is that you can turn it to your advantage. If somebody believes that you are afraid of something then they use it to gain advantage. But the unexpected thing to do is to do exactly that which they believe that you are afriad about.
(THAT IS THE BEAUTY OF PARANOIA)
Most people, for instance, are fearful of going to jail. So they sign away their rights in Plea Bargains for crimes which they did not commit. On the other hand IF I AM EVER FALSELY ARRESTED then I WILL welcome it and will do my best to stay in jail and utilize the Sixth Amendment to FORCE TRIAL.
While I am in jail I will not let that opportunity go to waste.
I will TEACH EVERY CRIMINAL the EASY METHOD ON HOW TO CONSTRUCT BOMBS and POISON GAS GENERATORS.. Who needs a gun when you can have BOMBS??? (There is a little secret that I know. They do not keep them forever. And they are really, very, very angry when they are released.)
Here is a video on HOW TO CONSTRUCT A BOMB...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH6GpXAXmx8
Poison Gases are easily made by mixing Ammonia and Bleach. (Can you imagine what that would do to a crowd in a dark Movie Theater?)
War is a bitch.
If I were in the Ukraine then I would blow up the Pipelines. Refineries, Storage Facilities and Pipelines are Prime Targets.
Furthermore I am TEACHING all that I can about how to do it. We still have "Freedom of the Press" and the "Freedom of Speech". They are attempting to quash that. But currently there is no law against teaching.
Oh...By the way..Did you see those Russians laughing in that video?
Well...He who laughs last laughs best. Hopefully the Ukranians will be laughing as they shut off the gas from the Russians and to Western Europe.
you're trying a little to hard to entrap people. LOL
I am telling you like it is. You make me laugh.
I have been educating the Homeless for quite awhile. They are now bringing me Batteries. It is kind of funny.
They bring me Broken Gold and Silver that they Dumpster Dive.
They used to bring me Marlboro Miles. (I got a lot of Marlboro Gear out of that.)
Now they bring me Batteries and Smoke Detectors. (I like the Radioactive Amercium.)
Sorry pal. I will teach a lot more. The time for the USA insolvency approaches. Time is growing short. Collapse is imminent.
We have have a very angry population whom are unemployed, disenfranchised, and are under extreme stress of indebtedness. We have a Collapsing Currency. We have FAMINE on the Short Term Horizon. California is in a severe drought.
Fukushima spews death unabated.
And that fucking Government of ours on 9/11 was complicit in the attacks.
THERE ARE NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS.
The USA is about to collapse. It will be spectacular. I am looking forward to it.
I am passionate in my hatred for the US Government and Federal Reserve Bank. They need to be brought down to their knees.
I have got nothing to lose. As Gerald Celente says, quite correctly, I have lost it...lost all fear.
So I have turned the tables. You can if you want. Or you can be a statist. Your choice.
Of course if you are a statist then you support the CHILD MOLESTING US TROOPS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=607pyA_TTck
So I am just sharpening my Cold Steel. And if you are a statist...well I have some plans for you.
That may bring the Russian State toward a point of insolvency.
All wars are Economic. If I can spend $500 and cost you $10 Million then I'd say that I won the exchange.
They'll be burning dried dung before this is over. So will we. No shortage of that, at least.
Yesterday it was pointed out that Ukrainian Industry, in particular its steel and metal industry, were located in heavily Russified regions of the Ukraine. Who knows the real story here. Could be that the steel industry is languishing and that has cut the nations need for energy imports or that the Kiev government isn't going to waste scarce Fx propping up industry in Eastern Ukraine.
yeah that is correct
We don't need no stinkin' nat gas!
(oh, maybe we do...)
44% of Ukraine's electricity comes from natural gas fired power plants.
Ukraine's total domestic power generation is less than domestic consumption. The remainder of that, too, comes from Russia.
FUK N A
Testicular Fortitude: Ukraine Haz It.
Where in Ukraine is the (Russian) gas USED mostly?
If it's down in the industrial E and SE then the 'hurt' value of reduced supply is 'targeted'.
Where is the gas used mostly? West of Ukraine, based upon the size of that pipeline going through. The question is, what do they consider "imports"? Gas that they use themselves, or just plain old gas that transits their borders?
Who rule Barter-Town?
Although it's been a bone of contention previously, the imports from Russia that exit to other European countries count as transit gas for which UKR receives a fee.
What they draw off domestically is metered and afaik no longer an arguing point (but has been) and it was to this that I was referring.
If the domestic use is asymmetric, then UKR could be indirectly 'punishing' E and SE areas, purely by accident - of course.
Note too that they have in the past said they will not import any, and then illegally tapped the transit. 44% of their electricity comes from nat gas. They aren't going to be able to hold out to winter.
it is transit pipeline that goes to the west
most of the inner consumption is in industry heavy E and SE regions
All indicators point to Political disruption in the East and Economic collapse in the West. Your choice, same price !
No paper represents the globalist and international zionist establishment like the NYT, and the onslaught from them continues today in their editorial, and in this curious piece from a Polist sociologist:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/opinion/has-the-west-already-lost-ukra...
In essence, he's saying the US and EU are pussies if they aren't prepared to keep Ukraine from Russia {presumably even if half the country prefers Russian to EU/IMF dominance}
In my opinion, this piece is extraordinarily bellicose for proaganda. As the man is Polish, and has an obvious anti-Russian bias, one has to wonder where he comes off urging the West to fight to dominate a country rather than focusing on urging both Russia and the West to both provide economic aid, and to foster it as an independent nation.
His assessment is cartoonish, and it is clear the Times is carrying water for the US State department. Their editorial glibly glosses over the very real {roughly} West/East divide.
In answer to the Polish cryptofascist's questions: The West never "had" Ukraine, but it has "lost" the East and Crimea.
Now the question is to what extent will the NATO/EU/IMF Global Banking Empire resort to violence to retain these portions of Ukraine.
Parenthetically, he is yet another ultra Zionist Jew given space in the major media to advocate against the Russians, against self-determination for the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and for the EU. He is neither Ukrainian or Russian and he is nothing like an expert on the matter. The amount of anti-Putin hit pieces by Jewish writers is staggering. This writer strikes me as a neoliberal fascist who has much more in common with neoconservatism than most may realize. He's a Bolshevik. A Pole who is Jewish/Israeli first, lecturing the West and Europe on what it must do to rip Ukraine, intact, away from Russia.
At what point does the convergence of the NATO/IMF/WB agenda and International Zionism merit discussion? The oligarchs in Russia are mostly Jewish in countryies where they are under 2 or 1 percent of the population respectively - people owning much of the news media in both countries, with substantial connections to wealthy Jews in the US and Europe.
Sorry if you take offense to this, but these are the facts. These people have zero interest in the well being of the Ukrainian people. They simply feel that under an EU/IMF regime, these same oligarchs will be more free to loot more of the countries wealth. Jews are a tiny, uber wealthy minority in Russia, the Ukraine and the US.
It is no accident that what is fairly called 'Jewish owned and/or dominated" media has been over the top with the Putin bashing. While it continues to fail to cover Israel's crimes in Gaza and the West Bank in anything approaching a fair manner.
It really is a problem. It isn't a canard. The facts speak for themselves, or would, if these kinds of facts going to Zionist power weren't actively forbidden from the public discourse.
A lot of people will die, again, because people are afraid of being called fuckin' names by racist, ethnocentric, hypocritical liars.
---
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2014/02/distorting-russia/
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2014/02/50258-the-geopolitics-of-the-ukrainian-...
"Sorry if you take offense to this, but these are the facts. These people have zero interest in the well being of the Ukrainian people. They simply feel that under an EU/IMF regime, these same oligarchs will be more free to loot more of the countries wealth. Jews are a tiny, uber wealthy minority in Russia, the Ukraine and the US."
Bravo Sir, Bravo!
Johny, do you really think you have to fight propaganda with propagandistic language like "Russian to EU/IMF dominance"?
for a lot of Russians and Ukrainians it's not "Russian Dominance", it's national feelings of belonging together (and some West-skepsis)
for a lot of Poles, Ukranians and other europeans it's not "EU/IMF Dominance" it's too a feeling of belonging together as Europeans (and some Russia-skepsis)
when you see a crowd chanting "USA! USA!" you don't spontanously think they are doing it with American MegaCorporation Imperialism in mind, don't you?
Is this hypothetical crowd waving US flags or burning US flags?
If the crowd is burning US flags, then yes, I "spontanously think they are doing it with American MegaCorporation Imperialism in mind".
If the hypothetical crowd is waving US flags, then what hypothetical year is it?
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/
Strongest words ever from Paul Craig Roberts.
He better not dare to drive his Mercedes Benz anytime soon.
very plain and strong talking. Lets see if the Ukranian gas "call" will shake or harden the Putin stand.
I have a feeling that Putin means business on considering Eastern Ukraine inviolable. But can he take on an economic battle with his biggest customer?
The stakes in Syria/Iran/Turkey and now Ukraine get higher along that crucial divide.
"So let's see here....Spetsnaz troops training at bases in western U.S....Moscow and D.C. sign agreement for deployment of Russian troops to U.S. in case of a national "emergency...." Moscow allows use of Russian airbase to U.S. forces....I think it would be quite prudent to take a step back and see if this thing blows over like the NorCom and Syria war-footing buildup last year....this Ukraine "crisis" may be just an elaborate ruse to take our minds off of something else lurking in the shadows....." http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/
It will be just like the movie Red Dawn. Yes, both of them.
After all, they always telegraph the punch before they throw it.
OH, I see...Ukraine is using the old Blazing Saddles, "Nobody move, or the Ukrainian gets it..." routine. Yeah, that oughta work...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I
But if it doesn't, then maybe they can work up a "Number 6" on 'em...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkQ8_Xr_zVY
And hell, if that don't work they can always send in Mongo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwNJla8WvoY
sell the president's circus estate. that should cover a couple years worth of gas.
I've done that.. Natgas bastards raised the price and I was broke so I burned the furniture. Then I burned the house down and now I never get a stupid gas bill. I live under a concrete bridge and burn scrap wood in a barrel. It's nice in July. If I was part of EU I 'd have free gas.
Ukrain will buy gas from Germany which
Germany imports from Russia via NordStream
Good business for Germany
After Germany transfers funds to the EU wich get forwarded on to Ukraine so that Ukraine can afford to buy gas from Germany.
Ukraine is virtually bankrupt and with Russia turning hostile, they obviously don't want to run up a huge gas bill. But calling this a show of determination against Russia reminds me of the Iraqi information minister, who was beating the crap out of the invaders, meanwhile M1 tankers were parked in Baghdad square asking for directions to the nearest hotel.
What was that I said only yesterday? When gas/energy flows from other places, gas won't flow from Russia through Ukraine.
And did I (and some others) not also say that this is a turf war between private Energy and Banking cartels? USA vs Russia. USA vs China. USA vs Rogue Nations. USA vs... Same as it ever was.
Wax on, wax off. Pipe on, Pipe off.
The EU...sorry....Mrs. Merkel will plug the holes.
The German public propaganda is already working perfectly - until weekend there was no money even to plug holes in freeway-bridges - but overnight finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble found incidentally a hiding place of another 40 billion Euro in his house he didn't remember before (...something simular happended with 55 billion Euro in november 2011 when news were spread that a new gigantic hole had to be plugged in Greece).
So there is enough fresh milk for the first 35-billion Ukranian hole - the next billions will be necessary not to loose the first ones....and so on.
We are already used that game and some of us keep on going wondering why wealth is growing faster even in European crisis-countries than here...
May be we should export more olives...
One difference between the EU/America/UK/IMF versus Russia. I talked to someone from Bavaria. Her small town has been loaded up with Ethiopians. This is the NWO's goal is to have open borders for ethnic cleansing like the USA too and most western countries. Putin does not support that. So get ready Ukraine - you are going to love the NWO.
Freddie, if her "small town has been loaded up with Ethiopians", then it was not under the authority of the EU or the US or the UK and for sure not the IMF
most probably you are writing here about some kind of asylum seekers. that kind of stuff is handled by the German Federal Government. bring a bit more facts, or perhaps a link
so Germany hurried along the NWO Plan without waiting for orders?
That's called "multi-culti initiative".
no, Germany's industries invited lots and lots of workers from countries like Greece and Turkey. and they came. and they live there. and the Germans, broadly speaking, are fine with them
they had a lot of discussions in the last years about double citizenships, for example. where is the "NWO Plan" in the post-war expansion of German industries?
"Fuck the EU", as they say in the West.
So this is the new euphemism for a 80% drop in GDP.
Where's HH? Did his pet cow get revenge.
A little of topic... but whatever
America's Jewish ambassador to Ukraine lauds neo-Nazi Ukrainian party
Not since the massacre at a summer camp of social democratic Norwegian youth by the Israel-loving Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Breivik has there been clearer evidence of the collusion between Zionists and neo-Nazis as the statement by the pro-Zionist U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt that the neo-Nazi Ukrainian political party Svoboda "played an extremely constructive role during these three months of demonstrations."
Pyatt's comments came in a February 24 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer's question to Pyatt was: ". . . some of the supporters of the ousted regime have been calling the protesters Nazis, referring to some neo-Nazi elements out there. How prevalent are they, these ultra nationalists, in Ukraine right now?"
Pyatt replied that "[Svoboda leader Oleh] Mr. Tyahnybok, who we expect to play role in new government, was one of those who helped diffuse several of the Kiev crisis points over the past several months."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who is married to arch-neoconservative Robert Kagan and is Jewish, told Pyatt in a leaked phone conversation now infamous for her words "Fuck the EU," told Pyatt that she wanted opposition leader Arseniy to consult with Tyahnybok "four times a week."Tyahnybok had his photograph taken during the Maidan Square demonstrations with a smiling Nuland. Tyahnybok was also photographed with Senator John McCain.
Tyahnybok, although an ardent Nazi sympathizer, says he supports Israel. He stated at a Svoboda reception in honor of the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine that “I respect the position of Israel, which defends the interests of its citizens.” It is clear that Tyahnybok respects Israel's policy of racism toward Arabs, a view he shares with respect to foreigners, including Arabs, in Ukraine. Tyahnybok says he has an affinity toward the more nationalist parties in the Israeli Knesset, which would include the racist parties representing Israel's illegal settlers in the West Bank of Palestine.
Among other "accomplishment's" of Pyatt and Nuland are the toppling of statues throughout Ukraine honoring Vladimir Lenin; Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, the Russian commander who defeated Napoleon's forces at Brody in western Ukraine; and a symbolic Ukrainian soldier who died fighting the Nazis.
Svoboda members and their allies have draped Nazi SS and Confederate American flags and banners inside Kyiv's City Hall. Neo-Nazis have declared their own zones of control throughout Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
The World Jewish Congress, a elading voice for Zionism, has called on Ukraine to ban Svoboda but as seen with Nuland's and Pyatt's policies, international Zionism is not speaking with one voice on the issue.
The neo-Nazi Oleh Tyahnybok and the American Zionist Victoria Nuland, wide of Robert Kagan, diplomat are all smiles. Not since the days of the Haavara (Transfer) Agreement of August 25, 1933 between the Zionist Federation of Germany and Chancellor Adolf Hitler [celebrated by the striking of a celebratory coin by the Berlin Mint -- above right], which helped pave the way for the creation of the State of Israel with the agreement to allow German Jews the right of exodus to the British mandate of Palestine, have the links between Nazism and Zionism been more evident.
Tyahnybok favors reanming various Ukrainian sites after Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian nationalist leader during World War II who fought on the side of the German Nazis against the Soviet Union. Svoboda has called for the banning of the Communist Party in Ukraine, hardly a sign of democratic principles in a post-coup Ukraine.
Although the neo-conservatives are self-congratulating themselves on what they believe is a defeat for Russia and a spur to action for similarly-minded fascists now waging warfare on the streets of Venezuela and Thailand, the fall of Kyiv to the fragmented Ukrainian opposition has a silver lining. The cooperation between Nazis and Zionists has, once again, re-emerged for all the world to see.
WAYNEMADSENREPORT.COMVictoria Nuland is herself grand-daughter of Russian Jews...............funny how the State Department is badly staffed in Europe Desk and cannot find any goy in the USSA with a smattering of geo-political nous
Really good news that the IMF are going to "help".
I you don't believe me, just look see how they "helped" Greece.
What ever the future holds for the Ukraine it wont be improved with "help" from the EU either.
Just a point: If the Russian supply line direct to Ukraine is frozen to 80 % of past volume, BUT the supply to Europe is maintained from Russia at past volumes and PRICES; what is to STOP Germany from back channelling some of that gas; assuming it buys more than it requires and Germnay has much greater needs than Ukraine to be able to back-pump some of that xtra to Ukraine via the existing lines. (I asume the compressor stations in Germany can use some of those empty pipes to back sell the xtra gas to Ukraine on acceptable terms).
Networks can work both was; just saying. And gas is gas.
pot meet kettle...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhUp4JxCIAAdBlN.jpg
Egypt ended up turning on them, so did Syria and Libya so its inevitable that the Ukraine does the same.
Problem is Turkey is next in line
Time to fire up Chernobyl again so Fukushima has a European partner.............I wonder how much European industry will appreciate Ukraine playing around with gas transit now Merkels "Energiewende" makes Western Europe more dependent on gas
"However, today we find that Ukraine's state oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has slashed gas imports from Russia's Gazprom by stunning 80% in February as Ukraine tries to show Russia it can't be pushed around"
There are at least two factions in Ukraine, pro- and anti-Russia. Which faction made this decision changes the interpretation of it:
Pro-Russia: Slash is meant to coerce the Ukrainians.
Anti-Russia: Slash is meant to reduce dependence on Russia.
(Neutral?): Slash was not a "statement," but because Ukraine is out of money.
Other reasons are also possible.
This is a red herring anyways. Unless I am misunderstanding it the gas flow doesn't get cut at all. Ukraine just siphons off the lines gas into holding tanks/stations to be used domestically. All this means is moar cubic meters of gas for the EU less for the Ukraine from those lines now as long as the pressure (PSI) is maintained.
Cui bono, looks like the government puppets are already starting to betray who pulls their strings. It is obvious it is not to the benefit of the Ukrainian people if the gas pressure isn't reduced and the flow is maintained.
80% less gas goes to the Ukraine now and 80% moar goes to the EU. Russia benefits so does the EU because EU gets moar gas and Russia gets to price that 80% higher now based upon negotiated rates with the EU which are higher per cubic meter than the rates negotiated with the Ukraine. There is only one line that matters and as long the Russians control the Crimea everything else is of little consequence to that end game. They really don't need to roll in the tanks if they don't want to as long as they hold the Crimea and they've made that clear in no uncertain terms the Crimea is off limits.
The move reeks of cutting of your nose to spite your face and I don't think the Ukrainian government is that stupid. Corrupt or back door controlled is another story.
The reality is probably far more boring.
1. The so called Russian cut of gas supplies is similar to the utility company turning off the power when you don't pay.
2. Now the so called Ukraine reducing imports 28% is similar to when you go shopping at the $2 menu because you have $3 in your wallet while you look on in the food court. i.e. Ukraine appears to be broke.
Is Ukraine spelled Greece II?
except nobody is willing to fight over: The Greece Pit
Sounds like the EU et all have been making promises they may not be able to keep. It's easy to be cocky until your new friends reneg then you have to go a beg for half as much at twice the price from uncle vlad. Just sayin.
*cough*Dnieper-Donets Basin*cough*
Ukraine has the largest natgas in ground reserves in Europe. And the fracking has just begun. Roya Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron have collectively invested $30B in the past year. This will be the Saudi Arabia of Europe. Thats why it's a big deal.
Link to this information?