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Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

reuters.com

151–156 of 156 posts

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#151
post #13

I am quite afraid of Russia shutting off the gas and oil supply. I hope Europe doesn't give up on sanctions then, at least not right away. Betting on Russia needing the income more than we need the resources. Power will go out completely around here and partially in many other regions, but we can live through that. Having solar (plus wind and batteries) is a major boon, and this would undoubtedly drive demand through…

I am certainly empathetic to having power and lights go out... In the midwestern USA, we survived last year with rotating blackouts during an unexpected winter storm that reached deep into Texas to parts that haven't seen snow in 50 years, and some parts ever receiving snow on recorded record. That being said, people are dying because of cheap power and gas. I know it's easy for me to say halfway across the world fro…

As a German I'm uncertain of what I'd want. I can totally imagine next winter being harsh, lacking power and heating. I'm less afraid of that than I am of it being a cause for people to use it to build national pride along the lines of "do without for the sake of Germany and your fellow man"... I don't think I'll have a problem living without heating in the winter... electricity is probably harder. I think the media message that will go along with it might change something in Germany I don't want to see.

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gas in European pipeline systems is measured in kWh (not in m³ or kg), because it's the energy in the gas that we're after. Hence the funny unit.

Sure, but they why kWh/h instead of kW? If you're inclined to measure the quantity of gas in terms of its energy, why not measure its flow in terms of power? (of course kWh/h _is_ power, but why denote it so strangely?)

This conveys the state of the mind, what's important. A more clear example is car mileage, which is expressed in l/(100 km), but can be shortened to area unit like mm² (and it even has a physical interpretation: https://what-if.xkcd.com/11/), but that's not what we need to know (how much mm² of petrol your car burns?).

Similarly, we don't need power of the transfer of the gas, we need to know how much gas gets exchanged, because it's priced per kWh, so removing h from each side actually makes things harder in another equation.

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#153

I never knew until recently how tied up Russia's oil strategy was to their military / political thinking. If others are interested, this video has a great overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE

This is the most interesting thing i saw in a while. It is tragic that our news channels are incapable of delivering such insights- german newspaper/tv all fell for putins silly „historic“ farytales..

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#154
post #148
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says Putin. Repeatedly since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Putin said that id you dont lament the fall of the soviet union you have no heart but if you want to rebuild it you have no brain. I think he knows Ukraine is lost. He wants it broken so it becomes a strategic liability for the west rather than a military asset.

Putin just had the same ask since 2014 . He doesnt want nato weapons near his country. He will create a tampon zone using the east of ukraine. Just as a reminder think about what americans did to escape the cuba missiles

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#155
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did France announce a massive nuclear project? The last news I heard was that they plan to build a couple of new nuclear power plants, but far from the numbers they'd need to maintain the current capacity as ageing plants go offline in the coming years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/world/europe/france-macro... Is this not a major project? The article is very lacking in details, so it is hard to tell what it amounts to in terms of impact.

That really depends what "up to" means and how big the "fleet of smaller reactors" is going to be. Announcing up to 14 today is very little when you have over fifty reactors to replace in the next two or three decades when you consider that building a reactor takes around fifteen years. Nuclear energy hopes are pinned on those small reactors, but afaik, none of them are ready for prime time today.

Re: Russian gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany halt, bids remain

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia has no need of the income because it is in a denomination they can’t now spend. Countries only need to export to the extent that they can get imports. Anything beyond that is a waste - and clearly so now that foreign reserves are being frozen and defaulted on. Russia is keeping the gas on to keep the EU out of the war.

They keep nukes to keep EU (well, NATO) out of the war. The gas is flowing because it's their last card, if they stop the gas they will lose it and EU will be forced to look for alternatives asap and won't come back. Selling more to China is not a good short option because as I understand there is no infrastructure, most pipes go to the west. Russia needs this money to trade with China, they won't accept Rubble.

China and Russia have swap arrangements.

And China uses Yuan, not Euros.

In very international trade the buyer uses the currency they have and the seller gets the currency they want. The finance system is there to make the match.

We don’t trade using pebbles. We trade using promises that are created on demand.

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