Posted on 03/20/2014 7:18:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
IIRC, Germany was so spooked by Fukushima that they voluntarily chose to dismantle their entire nuclear energy program.
I wonder if maybe, just maybe, it’s beginning to dawn on them that cutting off their own energy supply and instead becoming dependent upon an unfriendly nation was not necessarily the smartest move they could have made.
It’s been about 5 years and you still can’t get a pipeline built from Canada. Good luck getting one across the Atlantic to supply all of Europe.
We don't have the facilites to liquify it or the LNG tankers to ship it. At the other end Europe doesn't have enough refineries to process the LNG imports sufficient to replace Russian gas. Any alternative to Russian supplies is years away.
I know, we could’ve started years ago but for the current occupant of the White House.
Any other president would have been psychic? Up until a month ago there wasn't any reason for Europe to be considering alternative sources for their natural gas. No company is going to invest the billions in an LNG processing plant without a guaranteed customer.
No company in its sane mind would construct a LNG plant under these circumstances. (Although I hear one company is trying, in Texas).
There’s an analysis on the internet that I don’t entirely agree with, in part, because of the magnitude of the prediction. The author predicts the price of oil will fall into the $20 range. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a move below $60 to $80/bbl due to our energy independence.
In the recent past the US has consumed 50% of the world’s oil production. We’ve produced half of that domestically. That means 25% of the world’s oil will be left on the table, so to speak, when we achieve full energy independence. Of course the growth of the world’s demand will take part of it.
That much oil overhanging the market limits the ability of traders to exploit incidents to drive pricing. As the glut undercuts the world oil price, those nations requiring money to support domestic programs such as Russia and Iran will have to pump more oil to maintain their income levels. It may not be a race to the bottom but it will destroy OPEC’s ability to price fix as oil exporting nations undercut each other.
Natural gas is slowly cutting into gasoline’s share of the market for vehicle fuel. As an example West Virginia is pursuing a state fleet powered by natural gas. Fueling stations are being built now with some already in operation.
What is happening is a perfect storm that will drastically reduce oil and gas pricing. Russia may be able to avoid some of that by locking in long term contracts. It will still dramatically reduce the 50% contribution to the Russian federal budget.
As a side note, Putin knows he’s in trouble. One of his recent moves was to tell the oligarchs they’ll have to pay more taxes. His only hope is that Obama doesn’t unleash capitalism in the form of natural gas exports on his ass.
While Putin may try to sell oil in South America he’ll be competing with Venezuelan oil we no longer buy. He’ll also be competing against against Brazil who has long been an oil importer but will soon be one of the world’s biggest exporters.
Sooner, or later, Putin is kaputin.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-12/brazil-to-boost-oil-exports-as-output-triples-iea-says.html
“Angela Merkel declared the Group of Eight leading nations defunct”
Are they all dead?
Gosh.
THAT’s news.
“Angela Merkel declared the Group of Eight leading nations defunct”
Are they all dead?
Gosh.
THAT’s news.
How many is it sitting on currently?
Very widely indeed; with ONLY two allies "left": India and China, and two oceans and four seas at its disposal. Boo-hoo-hoo, such "isolation"
Russia, for all its “non-isolation,” does appear to have a severe case of geopolitical penis envy.
Putin Prepares To Announce “Holy Grail” Gas Deal With China
State-owned Russian gas firm Gazprom hopes to pump 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year to China from 2018 via the first pipeline between the world’s largest producer of conventional gas to the largest consumer.
“May is in our plans,” a Gazprom spokesman said, when asked about the timing of an agreement. A company source said: “It would be logical to expect the deal during Putin’s visit to China.”
India is an ally of Russia? When did that happen?
Call it an uneasy alliance.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/india-will-not-support-western-sanctions-against-russia/
OK so it’s not that the DOE is preventing any LNG processing centers from being built, it’s sitting on export applications from countries who do not have free trade agreements with us. So the simple solution would be for those countries to drop their trade barriers and we can export LNG to them since, as the story mentions, export approval to countries with free trade agreements is automatic.
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