Germany Rings Alarm on Gas Supplies, Russian Refinery Hit by Drone
Drone attack also reported at Russian oil refinery
Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, told reporters on Thursday that Russia’s decision to cut energy supplies to Berlin can lead to “a Lehman effect in the energy system.”
Habeck told a news conference that he raised the country’s gas risk level to the “alarm” phase, which Bloomberg said is the second-highest alert.
“Gas is now a scarce commodity in Germany,” he said. The next phase is gas rationing.
He said energy companies are being forced to spend more to maintain gas volumes, and customers will eventually have to absorb the financial impact. “If this minus gets so big that they can’t carry it anymore, the whole market is in danger of collapsing at some point.”
TRENDPOST: Lehman Brothers, which in 2007 ranked as the 47th largest bank by assets in the world, was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its 2008 bust contributed to the erosion of $10 trillion in market capitalization from global equity markets… the largest monthly decline on record, which set off the Panic of ’08.
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Germany's Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, an industry association, said Tuesday that a recession in Berlin is inevitable after cutting its economic growth forecast to 1.5 percent for this year.
Prior to the Ukraine invasion, the growth forecast for Europe’s biggest economy this year was at 3.5 percent.
The association blamed Russian gas supply issues.
As we point out in this week’s issue, Russia has already cut off some European countries from its gas supply and dramatically reduced flows to others.
These countries blamed Russia of weaponizing its gas supply. European countries are rushing to get their storage facilities to about 90 percent by November. They are at about 55 percent capacity now.
Christine Lagarde, the European Central Bank president, announced Monday that the risks to financial stability in Europe have “perceptibly increased” since January.
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"While the correction in asset prices has so far been orderly, the risk of a further and possibly abrupt fall in asset prices remains severe," she said.
Bloomberg reported that companies in Germany that its “economy faces the unprecedented prospect of businesses and consumers running out of power.”
Russia once provided Europe with 40 percent of gas imports. Gazprom stopped deliveries to Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Finland.
On 15 June, Moscow cut gas flows by 40 percent through the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline into Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions. The next day, Russia cut flows further, saying that it had shut down a compressor station along the pipeline because of maintenance issues.
Russia said that eventually Nord Stream 1 flows will be slashed by 60 percent or even turned off if the missing parts fail to be delivered due to sanctions.
If that happens, “it will be a disaster for Germany,” Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the European Union, told RIA Novosti, the Russian news service.
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Massimo di Odoardo, vice-president for gas research at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie told the FT, “If Nord Stream is cut off, or even if it remains cut off at 40 percent [of the usual deliveries], the situation is going to be very dire for Europe.”
He said the continent’s gas storage would also run dry in January.
TREND FORECAST: As the Ukraine war continues, Europe’s dependence on Russian gas becomes more urgent. If Europe enters Dragflation , our Top 2022 Trend in which prices rise and economic activity contracts, the Western alliance holding the sanctions regime together will begin to crack. The more gas Russia shuts off, the more the alliance will shatter.
Oil Refinery in Russia Struck by Drone
The governor of Russia’s Rostov region where an apparent drone attack occurred on an oil refinery told reporters that fragments from two drones were found at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery, according to The Guardian.
The apparent attack occurred Wednesday morning and sparked a large fire.
The report said: If the attack at the refinery is confirmed, it would indicate that the drone was either launched from within Russia or that it had passed over Russian-controlled territory to reach the refinery, passing through Russian air defence systems along the way.
Bolsters desire to fund citizen UNODOC office including drones. In past months I did wish to send non lethal drug enforcement drones to European nations that and make use of Metropolitan Anti terrorism units as some one said bogus 19 was sources of terror for them
Also a DEA more strong than FDA thought should have to bet past both UNODOC abd DEA before trying to inject people UNODOC offices exist in uch of world already as do Anti Narcitics offices so just applying funding to UNODOC could resolve .also pro Bono lawyers working for free for justice department And putting Special Forces such as SAS into UNODOC that is funding UNODOC training for SAS and Homicide Detectives plus police and military police.
Do you deliver the Trend Journal in Canada (Montreal)???