If there were real plans to sanction people responsible for invasion, they should've sanctioned russian billionaires - cancel their residence, close their companies, liquidate their property, freeze their money in banks, forbid travel. But this looks like they are taking EU money to pay to US gas fracking companies
Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
171–180 of 470 posts
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#172That's dumb. What they should do instead is tax the gas that will flow through North Stream 2 to be as expensive as the one going through other routes and transfer this tax directly to Ukraine budget as aid let's say for the next 30 years, irrevocably. And possibly partially to Poland because it has very similar concerns but to a lesser degree than Ukraine.
No post body was provided.
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not against shale gas which is worse than natural gas. They opposed it because of environmental concerns of fossil fuels. It would be much better to just get gas from Russia, which we did for several decades.
It would be much better to use less gas.
Thanks Captain Obvious. Your deep understanding of western economy has enlightened me.
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
China is not stupid to become depended on Russian gas or oil supply. The deal they signed with Russia is for 38 billion cubic meters of gas sent through "Power of Siberia" gas pipe (for comparison, in 2006 Poland purchase from Russia 206 billion cubic meters) and this throughput will be reached in 2025. Russia has no practical way to transfer gas designated for Europe to China, there is no pipe they can use as gas co…
Russia is already dependant on China. Without China they would not be able to weather economic sanctions and a China-Russia (plus minor countries like Belarus) is forming a new anti-Nato block. The logical next move if the pipeline to Europe falls through is for those speedy Chinese builders to build a pipeline. Russia isn't going to defect and even if they do it wouldn't cripple China. It's in China's interest to ke…
>Personally, I don't really see a way out of this. China is going to be more powerful than Nato.
This is still playing out, and I'm extremely sceptical of this take. China has a lot of domestic problems to deal with and a lack of allies due to their geo-politiking. Then you have India waiting in the wings, ready to be to China, what China was to America. Keeping in mind, we are all nuclear powers.
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
You lose something like 70% of the thermal output of the reactor in the conversion to electricity. Also the capacities a nowhere near large enough. Nord Stream 2 alone can transport something like 63 GW worth of gas. This is more than the total electricity consumption of Germany.
And for a home heater, 80% of the heat from the gas you burn goes up the chimney. Larger energy capture devices can be more efficient. One highly-efficient fuel burning plant providing power to a hundred thousand electric resistive heaters can produce more useful heat per unit fuel than a hundred thousand small-scale self-maintained home furnaces.
Your numbers are totally off. When did you bought and installed the last heater?
Modern condensing heaters have an efficiency of 90%.
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#176A related report from the BBC (published a few days ago): Europe gas prices: How far is Russia responsible? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/58888451 Some key points in the BBC article: - Russia supplies about 40% of the EU’s natural gas imports. Most of the rest comes from Norway and Algeria. - Russia sends gas to Europe through several main pipelines - such as the Nord Stream, the Yamal-Europe and the Brotherhood (see th…
>This leads to the conclusion that Gazprom is supplying the volumes... under its long-term contracts - but it is not providing additional volumes beyond those contracts," says Jack Sharples, of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Question is, was gas ordered? I doubt anyone delivers without order. According to Gazprom the orders came only february 2nd.
Gazprom runs underground storages in Western Europe which they didn't refill before Winter 2021/22. Back then it was speculated to be used to hike prices, now we know it's more about leverage.
https://www.ft.com/content/576a96f7-e41d-4068-a61b-f74f2b2d3...
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
China is not stupid to become depended on Russian gas or oil supply. The deal they signed with Russia is for 38 billion cubic meters of gas sent through "Power of Siberia" gas pipe (for comparison, in 2006 Poland purchase from Russia 206 billion cubic meters) and this throughput will be reached in 2025. Russia has no practical way to transfer gas designated for Europe to China, there is no pipe they can use as gas co…
> Taiwan, Philippines, Japan... Come on, China is bad enough as it is, no need to overdo it with imaginary threats. (Edit: wow impressed by how fast these downvotes came. I wonder if it was triggered by the “China is bad” part or my point that a Chinese invasion of Japan or Philippines is a complete fantasy. In case it's the second part, you should probably take a break from American news…)
Your comment has this air of condescension, like the people who downvoted you to the colour of the HN background don’t know what they’re talking about. That would be bad enough.
But in addition it seems like you’re ignorant of China’s Nine Dash Line, which has impacted Philippines and others. And their demand for control of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which has impacted Japan.
Condescension + ignorance is a killer combination
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is literally the opposite of what the minister has said: https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Meldung/20220101-eu-taxonom... Please don't spread misinformation.
Are you going to pretend that Germany didn't lobby for natural gas to be included by Europe in the green taxonomy ? Adding "but we know it's bad!" after the fact doesn't make it better in the slightest. German greens are hypocrites.
Could you give a source for that? A German newspaper reports that the green party was against including gas in the taxonomy, but was overruled by the other two coalition members [1].
[1] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/taxonomie-eu-kommission-...
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#179Here's some quick numbers I just googled to understand the big picture. This pipeline has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. It's the same capacity as the Nord Stream 1, which is already in operation. If Germany was truly meaning business, they'd stop Nord Stream 1 the moment Russian boots enter Ukrainian territory. But let's leave that aside. 55 billion cubic meters translate to about 0.6 billion MWh. Th…
Nordstream 2 has sanctions against it in the US and has for several years now. Work on the pipeline stopped an hour or two before they were signed into law (by the allegedly pro-Russia Trump). Like Biden always does, he just ignored the bi-partisan sanctions passed by congress because it'll be too late by the time the courts get done (Biden subverting the system to help Russia get what they want) This is important be…
They show in the news only what they want you to hear. Everything was agreed upon and scheduled long before February, including US,EU,Russia and even Ukraine. Macron was flying all over the world for a reason
Re: Germany shelves Nord Stream 2 pipeline
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's to decrease reliance on Russian gas. If Germany is almost entirely reliant on Russian gas then they cannot impose serious sanctions on Russia without Russia shutting down the gas supply.
Russia can't "shut down the gas supply", that's their only source of income
Even at the height of the cold war, the Soviet Union did not shut off gas exports.
Even 2009 at the former height of the Ukraine Gas dispute, exports only got a little disrupted, mostly to Ukraine itself.