{"id":26123,"date":"2023-08-31T16:45:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T16:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=26123"},"modified":"2023-08-31T17:05:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:05:25","slug":"eu-imports-of-russian-gas-soar-40-since-invasion-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2023\/08\/31\/eu-imports-of-russian-gas-soar-40-since-invasion-of-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"EU imports of Russian gas soar 40% since invasion of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by Hannah Sharland was first posted by\u00a0 The Canary<\/a>. It highlights the EU’s hypocrisy in claiming to fully support Ukraine in the war against Russian imperialism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EU IMPORTS OF RUSSIAN GAS SOAR 40% SINCE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feature image of Zapolyarne oil and gas plant from Chursaev13\/Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New research has revealed that the European Union (EU)\u00a0has raised<\/a>\u00a0its imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) by 40% since it began its brutal invasion in\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>. Moreover, in the first seven months of 2023, EU countries ploughed \u20ac5.3bn into buying up over half the Russia\u2019s total supply.<\/p>\n

Research and campaign nonprofit Global Witness produced the analysis. The organisation highlighted the hypocrisy of the soaring imports, which it said is \u201clining Putin\u2019s pockets\u201d.<\/p>\n

LNG from Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Global Witness found that between January and July 2023, the EU has purchased 22 million cubic meters of LNG from\u00a0Russia<\/a>. LNG is a form of fossil gas that companies cool into liquid form for easier transportation.<\/p>\n

Notably, this was a 40% climb on EU imports of Russian LNG for the same period in 2021. By comparison, the campaign group stated that the global average jump in Russian LNG imports stood at 6%.<\/p>\n

On top of this, it pointed out that the EU is now buying up the bulk of Russia\u2019s LNG. During the first seven months of 2023, the EU took 52% of Russia\u2019s LNG exports. In the same period of 2022, this was 49%, and just 39% in 2021.<\/p>\n

Moreover, two European countries are top buyers of Russian LNG. Specifically, Spain and Belgium are now the second and third largest purchasers of Russian LNG, behind only China. In 2023, Spain bought 18% of Russia\u2019s total LNG. Meanwhile, Belgium was hot on its heels with 17% of Russia\u2019s LNG sales. China accounted for marginally more, at 20%.<\/p>\n

Gas from bloodshed in Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Global Witness suggested that the imports make the EU complicit in Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine. Senior fossil fuel campaigner Jonathan Noronha-Gant said that:<\/p>\n

every euro means more bloodshed. While European countries decry the war, they\u2018re putting money into Putin\u2019s pockets.<\/em><\/p>\n

The organisation\u00a0has estimated<\/a>\u00a0that Russia\u2019s LNG exports were worth $21bn in 2022. Given that oil and gas\u00a0made up<\/a>\u00a045% of Russia\u2019s federal budget pre-invasion in 2021, its likely the industry is financing its violent assault on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Global Witness also argued that the EU\u2019s increase in Russian LNG exports showed that countries:<\/p>\n

are simply not moving fast enough to replace gas with renewables.<\/em><\/p>\n

In July,\u00a0Climate Home News<\/em>\u00a0reported that<\/a>\u00a0the EU\u2019s ambition for renewable energy deployment is woefully below what\u2019s needed to meet global climate targets.<\/p>\n

Of course,\u00a0Western nations<\/a>\u00a0have meanwhile continued to facilitate\u00a0fossil fuel<\/a>\u00a0expansion. G7 nations, including European economic majors, have doubled down on public finance for LNG elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Fossil fuel profiteers of war<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, European fossil fuel majors have been making a killing from Russian LNG while the country wages its deadly invasion. Global Witness highlighted that Anglo-Dutch Shell and French TotalEnergies have maintained trade in Russian LNG. In particular, the campaign group showed that Total is the largest non-Russian buyer of LNG, at nearly 4.2 million cubic meters in 2023 so far.<\/p>\n

Previous research from Global Witness in July\u00a0revealed that<\/a>\u00a0Shell also likely raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in 2022 from Russian LNG. Its analysis identified that Shell had traded over 7.5 million cubic meters \u2013 12% of Russia\u2019s total LNG exports \u2013 between March and December 2022.<\/p>\n

Global Witness said that this:<\/p>\n

made Shell critical to a trade that brought Putin $21 billion in 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n

Moreover, the nonprofit articulated how the oil and gas giant had justified its continued trade in Russian LNG:<\/p>\n

under a pretext of ensuring Europe\u2019s energy security.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, as the\u00a0Canary<\/em>\u00a0has\u00a0previously detailed<\/a>, this is a key \u201cshock doctrine\u201d tactic. Fossil fuel companies have employed this to capitalise on disasters. Significantly, a report from Greenpeace in April\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0the industry\u2019s barefaced weaponisation of the invasion to lock Europe into greater LNG dependancy.<\/p>\n

Fossil fuels are war-mongering by design<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, European government and corporations\u2019 support for brutal military regimes is nothing new. The\u00a0Canary<\/em>\u00a0has\u00a0previously highlighted<\/a>\u00a0EU financing and supply of arms to Saudi Arabia. The repressive regime has been waging a violent invasion on Yemen. Naturally, fossil fuels\u00a0sit at the heart<\/a>\u00a0of Western backing of the war.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, not only has the EU increased its Russian LNG imports, it has also\u00a0raised its share<\/a>\u00a0of fossil fuel imports from the violent Saudi regime. Since implementing sanctions, the EU\u2019s share of diesel imports from Russia has plummeted. Whereas Russian diesel made up 53% of the Northwest Europe\u2019s seaborne imports from October 2021 through September 2022, by February 2023, it was just 2%.<\/p>\n

Conversely, in February 2023, Northwest Europe increased its imports of diesel from Saudi Arabia to 202,000 barrels per day. This was up from an average of 68,000 per day between October 2021 and September 2022.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the\u00a0Guardian<\/em>\u00a0and a group of nonprofits also\u00a0exposed<\/a>\u00a0Western oil and gas companies\u2019 coup money in February. They found that UK, US, and Irish gas firms had profited from Myanmar\u2019s gas after its violent military coup.<\/p>\n

The trade in fossil fuels has long been war-mongering by design. As\u00a0Declassified UK<\/em>\u00a0detailed<\/a>, fossil fuel interests have been at the center of multiple Western-backed coups and invasions.<\/p>\n

If the devastating costs of the\u00a0climate crisis<\/a>\u00a0weren\u2019t already reason enough, fossil fuels\u2019 major role in propping up murderous regimes should make the case for a just transition blatantly vital.<\/p>\n

30.8.23<\/strong><\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

also see:<\/p>\n

Revealed: Russian oligarch dodged sanctions over Mayfair mansion \u2013 Martin Williams, openDemocracy<\/a><\/p>\n

The US \u00a0is no ally of the Left -in Ukraine or elsewhere – Yanis Varoufakisis, openDemocracy<\/a><\/p>\n

Why has Putin invaded Ukraine? \u2013 Allan Armstrong, EL&SD<\/a><\/p>\n

On the frontier of whiteness? Expropriation, wat and social reproduction in Ukraine \u2013 Olena Lubchenko, EastWest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article by Hannah Sharland was first posted by\u00a0 The Canary. It highlights the EU’s hypocrisy in claiming to fully support Ukraine in the war against Russian imperialism. EU IMPORTS OF RUSSIAN GAS SOAR 40% SINCE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE New research has revealed that the European Union (EU)\u00a0has raised\u00a0its imports of Russian liquified…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,1855,1858,1867,1857,1868,1847,1848],"tags":[9223],"class_list":["post-26123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-capitalists-organise","category-exploitation-and-emancipation","category-oppression-liberation","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-environmental-degradation","category-against-imperialism","category-the-eu","category-ex-ussr","tag-author-hannah-sharland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/110985237456482955","error":""},"views":1063,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26123"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26130,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123\/revisions\/26130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}