HOW MUCH DOES EUROPE PAY RUSSIA FOR ENERGY?
It's harder to find alternative sources of natural gas because it comes mainly by pipeline. It would be easier to find other sources for oil, which mostly moves by tanker and is traded globally. So a natural gas boycott is off the table for now. Heavy gas users like Germany say an immediate cutoff could cost jobs, with industrial associations warning of shutdowns in glass and metals businesses.
Bruegel analysts say that means European countries should be ready to impose measures to reduce fuel use, such as making public transport free and incentivizing car-sharing. If those measures don't work, tougher ones such as odd-even driving bans based on license plate numbers would be needed. Similar measures were taken during the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, when Germany imposed car-free Sundays.
Russia would probably produce and export less oil after losing its biggest customer, Europe. That's because all of Russia's exports can't simply be redirected from nearby Europe to far-off Asia due to shipping and logistical constraints. It would mean a major reshuffling of the world's crude oil flows.
The OPEC oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia -- which sets production levels along with allied non-members like Russia -- has made it clear it won't increase output to make up for any supply loss from Russia due to a boycott. They meet again Thursday. While the price for Russia's main export benchmark to Europe, Urals crude, has been discounted by $35 a barrel compared with international benchmark Brent, Russia's revenue losses have so far been limited because of generally higher oil prices.
Pretty hard to continue war if they can’t fuel their tanks etc
Let’s find out
The biggest impact is obvious. We could have paid off the deficit with the money we would be raking from the pipelines that were quashed. Now we can't even help if we wanted to. Sad to be Canadian, thank God all the WW2 vets are dead so they don't have to see this.
Russia will have more for later.
Death