A blank leader who weaponized gas without

A blank leader who weaponized gas without seeing the future is finally dropping the country to the abyss, and the approval rating of such a person is an absolute majority, so the people have no choice but to be blank…
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When Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two and a half years ago 🇺🇦 There were two major "mantras" in the global #energy debate.

One was largely supported by Russian 🇷🇺 authorities, who said without Russian gas supplies, Europe would have "frozen and plunged into darkness."

One was that Russia would have found new markets mainly in #China🇨🇳 and Asia for gas supplies it no longer sells to Europe (🇪🇺).

The former did not happen thanks to the luck of lower consumption due to the actions taken by the EU and mild weather, as well as slower economic activity in China due to the impact of COVID-19, which increased LNG availability.

But the latter never happened... not at all. With Gazprom turned into a huge loss from a huge cash machine that fills the Kremlin's pockets. Natural gas isn't the only source of revenue for the country's energy exports. It's not even the main thing, as oil accounts for the largest share. But about 20% of Russia's budget comes from gas sales (mainly to Europe), and oil revenues are also being affected by falling selling prices.

So what about China replacing Europe for Russian gas sales? The logic was simple: instead of going west, it would have turned production from its western Siberian oil field east. The "small" problem is that gas #business doesn't work this way, and building thousands of kilometers of pipelines requires a lot of work and a lot of "will" between stakeholders. China has so far proven it has no such will.

The result? The data has no mercy... In the decade before the invasion, Russia's gas exports to Europe amounted to an average of 230 billion cubic meters per year. In 2023, exports to China fell a notch to just 22 billion cubic meters....

The bottom line is that while Europe is trying to integrate new business models without a plentiful supply of Russian energy, Russia is also starting to seriously ponder how to harness its blessing. That's because a major customer who has been paying generously regularly for decades has left and will not come back, at least not for the foreseeable future. While history has shown us many times how resilient Russia is - reminding everyone to never underestimate it - the ATMs can dry up and stay the same for a while....

Time can be a gentleman sometimes for sure...