The European Union will threaten Russia with a new cold war and a "far-reaching" economic blockade if Vladimir Putin annexes Crimea. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned Russia that the EU would agree to go further than sanctions against Russian officials, politicians and businessmen involved in the destabilisation and break-up of Ukraine. --Bruno Waterfield,
The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2014
Whatever comes out of this week’s sanctions meetings, there is no going back to the status quo ante. Europe will seek to liberate itself from Russian oil and gas supplies as fast as possible. Fresh investment in Russia will collapse. Putin has grossly misjudged how vulnerable Russia really is to an economic showdown with the G7 but cannot now change course. It is a new international order. As Dmitri Trenin from Carnegie Moscow says, we are already in a new Cold War. The last 20 years were merely a truce. --Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2014
Europe's economies are far too dependent on Russian supplies of natural gas. Breaking these links can't be done cheaply, easily or all at once, but a patient strategy to diversify from Russian energy supplies is long overdue. Europe has shale gas of its own -- maybe a 25-year supply at the current rate of gas consumption -- but it has been in no hurry to exploit it. A U.S.-style boom may be unlikely for reasons of geology and population density, but that's no excuse for failing to examine the possibilities. And there are other paths to energy diversification. If the annexation of Crimea makes Merkel regret her country's dependence on Russian gas, it should also make her wonder about her decision to close Germany's nuclear power plants years ahead of schedule. --
Bloomberg editorial, 17 March 2014
The standoff between Russia and Ukraine that precipitated yesterday’s farcical referendum on Crimean secession evokes memories of past attempts to use energy as a geopolitical weapon. Upon closer inspection, it also reveals the early stages of a historically significant shift in global energy politics that would have seemed improbable a generation ago. The global economic impact of shale gas could be magnified when the first facilities to ship it from the U.S. in liquid form, known as liquefied natural gas, or LNG, become operational late next year. That will begin to put American policy-makers in the once-unfathomable position of having an energy weapon with which to apply geopolitical leverage. --Tom Saler,
Journal Sentinel, 15 March 2014
Over the long-term, the EU will look more aggressively for ways to diversify away from Russia. It has already been pursuing such a strategy, but the latest flare up in tensions will likely accelerate the EU's efforts. EU leaders plan to meet on March 20-21 to discuss how Europe can reduce its dependence on Russia. This will likely include pressing the U.S. for more LNG exports. It also means that EU member nations may try to develop their own shale resources. The Ukraine crisis appears to have convinced European leaders to step up their efforts to improve energy security. Russia may hold some leverage over Europe in the short-term (the extent to which, is debatable), but over the next few years the European Union will chip away at Russia's energy grip. --Nick Cunningham,
OilPrice, 16 March 2014
A new onshore oil bonanza could be on the horizon with vast potential resources found under a swathe of southern Britain, possibly on a par with the huge shale gas reservoirs found in the north. Scientists from the British Geological Survey (BGS) are putting the final touches to a report on the oil-bearing shale rocks that stretch from Weymouth in the southwest to the Weald in the southeast and up through Oxfordshire. The report focuses on the Weald area spanning Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Surrey and is expected to say that its rocks are just as rich in oil as the North Sea strata that have been producing oil for the UK since the 1980s. --Jonathan Leake,
The Sunday Times, 16 March 2014
The dramatic increase in oil supply from the U.S. and Canada—coupled with a surprise surge in Iraqi output—helped stave off global demand pressures brought on by a cold U.S. winter and geopolitical concerns over rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. --Sarah Kent,
The Wall Street Journal, 15 March 2014
China is reconsidering plans for a carbon tax as local air pollution trumps concerns over climate change and some rich nations back away from imposing a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, a top official said. A carbon tax is increasingly controversial among lawmakers, said Zhu. The carbon and air pollution taxes would target mostly the same sources, and in difficult economic times China is wary of hitting companies with too many costly regulations. Zhu also referred to the fact that Australia, under the Abbott government, is trying to abolish the country’s carbon tax, while a price on carbon has been blocked in the United States. --
The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 March 2014
