15 August 2007

Russia Cuts Off Gas Via Druzhba - No Really

I have not read Transitions Online, but it gets mentioned reasonably frequently in the english language Russian blogosphere so when this article Europe’s Escape Routes, was linked to via the authoritative The Oil Drum, which found the story on Business Week, it seemed worth a read.

I was close to giving up after reading the first paragraph:

Wary of Moscow's stranglehold on natural gas supplies, the EU hopes several planned pipelines will provide a way out.  Russia's threat in early August to nearly halve the amount of gas it exports to Belarus over unpaid bills must have brought back bad memories for many in Europe.

on the assumption that everyone, bar Edward Lucas, has just about worked out that Russia has to sell its gas to Europe in order to pay for the developments that will allow it to sell its gas to Europe.  But I struggled manfully through to the second paragraph:

Memories, for instance, of earlier this year, when Russia cut off the gas that flowed through its Druzhba pipeline to Belarus in a dispute over price hikes and tariffs. At that time, a wave of disruption surged down the supply chain.

Just imagine the turmoil, if you aren't getting gas through Druzhba then all those cars won't run.  Except that the author was talking about natural gas, not US gas.  No wonder it had knock-on effects in the supply chain.  If you were waiting for gas through the Druzhba pipeline then your supply chain is probably pretty screwed-up.

Within days, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (who rely on Russia for around 65 percent of their natural gas) saw their shipments halved. Poland and Germany began tapping reserves, and other countries looked to increase imports from other suppliers like Norway.

Except that the Druzhba is an oil pipeline as a cursory search would show this as the top hit:

Druzhba pipeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Druzhba pipeline (Russian: нефтепровод «Дружба») is the world's longest oil pipeline, it carries oil some 2500 miles from southeast Russia to points in ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druzhba_pipeline - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
At which point I gave up - moron.

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15 August 2007

Russia Cuts Off Gas Via Druzhba - No Really

I have not read Transitions Online, but it gets mentioned reasonably frequently in the english language Russian blogosphere so when this article Europe’s Escape Routes, was linked to via the authoritative The Oil Drum, which found the story on Business Week, it seemed worth a read.

I was close to giving up after reading the first paragraph:

Wary of Moscow's stranglehold on natural gas supplies, the EU hopes several planned pipelines will provide a way out.  Russia's threat in early August to nearly halve the amount of gas it exports to Belarus over unpaid bills must have brought back bad memories for many in Europe.

on the assumption that everyone, bar Edward Lucas, has just about worked out that Russia has to sell its gas to Europe in order to pay for the developments that will allow it to sell its gas to Europe.  But I struggled manfully through to the second paragraph:

Memories, for instance, of earlier this year, when Russia cut off the gas that flowed through its Druzhba pipeline to Belarus in a dispute over price hikes and tariffs. At that time, a wave of disruption surged down the supply chain.

Just imagine the turmoil, if you aren't getting gas through Druzhba then all those cars won't run.  Except that the author was talking about natural gas, not US gas.  No wonder it had knock-on effects in the supply chain.  If you were waiting for gas through the Druzhba pipeline then your supply chain is probably pretty screwed-up.

Within days, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (who rely on Russia for around 65 percent of their natural gas) saw their shipments halved. Poland and Germany began tapping reserves, and other countries looked to increase imports from other suppliers like Norway.

Except that the Druzhba is an oil pipeline as a cursory search would show this as the top hit:

Druzhba pipeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Druzhba pipeline (Russian: нефтепровод «Дружба») is the world's longest oil pipeline, it carries oil some 2500 miles from southeast Russia to points in ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druzhba_pipeline - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
At which point I gave up - moron.

Technorati Tags: ,

No comments: