Electronic changes in the EU
Sign up for myFT Daily Digest to be the first to know about electronic news in the EU.
A major U.S. energy adviser has warned that “lives are at stake” in Europe this winter as the continent enters a period of low oil and low risk.
Amos Hochstein, senior advisor for strong security in President Joe Biden’s government department, said Russia “provided the market in terms of its cultural assets” and contributed at much higher prices.
“If you get a cold winter by January and February, you may run out of money. And that’s when I get worried, “he told the Financial Times on Saturday during a trip to Kyiv, expressing US fears over Europe’s reliance on Russia for power.” This is not just about other political games. Lives are at stake. “
A former government official in the administration of President Barack Obama and a former adviser to Vice President Biden, Hochstein was appointed last month to consider reducing the risks posed by Russia’s Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline. Opponents say the Kremlin will use the pipeline to reduce Ukraine – by passing it off and reducing travel costs – and increasing its power over EU power.
The $ 11bn pipeline, which will ship 55 cubic meters of fur to Europe each year, is expected to be launched by the end of the year. Ukrainian officials have criticized Moscow for deliberately curtailing goods to speed up NS2 issuance by European authorities. This is happening.
Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, has said it has achieved all of its long-term sales to European consumers, but has been criticized for not producing enough oil during the crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that rising oil prices in Europe were probably the result of “smart alecs” at the European Commission that pushed for “market” prices, which seems to be testing the EU’s bid to compete in Russia’s oil markets.
Other factors have also boosted the market, including the sharp decline in European domestic production this year due to the coronavirus epidemic, the growing demand for gas on destructive coal and in Asia to demand oil supplies.
Electricity regulators have warned that prices could remain high during the winter, to the point that other energy industries may be needed ban outputs and home loans can go up.
The US has been opposed to NS2, but Biden’s management reached an agreement in July with Germany to force Berlin to relocate Russia if it “destroys” pipelines against Ukraine or its allies. Biden’s management had already lifted the ban on Nord Stream 2 AG, the driver of Gazprom’s bomb.
Officials in Kyiv and Poland’s allies have strongly criticized the US-German agreement on the grounds that it does not guarantee the safety or emission of Russian gas through Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
Hochstein spoke on a trip to Kyiv where he negotiated with Ukrainian officials to implement the US-Germany agreement on a solution, by pressuring Gazprom to improve Ukraine’s car-friendly agreement by 2024. “My hope is that the Russians will agree” to improve transport. oil, through Ukraine, Hochstein said.
Hochstein said that although the US believed that Russia “has been using gas for many years, for many years” he did not say that Moscow had deliberately reduced oil in recent months – which could lead to further sanctions against Moscow’s US-Germany deal.