economy 2024-06-01 86

Translation in English: Did the United States win? Another pipeline halts crude

01

Yesterday, Polish media released some terrible news!

The Friendship pipeline, which has been supplying Russian crude oil to Poland, has ceased operations, meaning that Russia has stopped the continued delivery of pipeline oil to Poland.

This comes after the Nord Stream pipeline was sabotaged in October last year, marking another significant pipeline going out of service.

Since December last year, Europe has imposed a comprehensive ban on the import of crude oil from Russia via maritime transport, making pipeline the primary method of crude oil delivery. However, with an increasing number of pipelines ceasing to function, European countries are progressively losing their supply of Russian crude oil.

This is bad news for Poland and the entire European region, but the United States might be secretly rejoicing.

02

Recently, Goldman Sachs predicted that the natural gas prices in Europe will double within this year to the next.

In fact, in August last year, natural gas prices remained high and even broke through 300 euros, but now they have plummeted to below 100 euros.

Despite the current natural gas prices having hit rock bottom, Goldman Sachs is confident that the trend for future natural gas prices will be on an upward trajectory.If Goldman Sachs' predictions come true and natural gas prices really soar, then the United States could once again reap financial benefits from it.

Advertisement

Many people are aware that Europe fell into an energy crisis last year, and in order to get through the winter smoothly, Europe had to purchase a large amount of natural gas from the United States and store it.

As a result, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State publicly stated on February 23 that the amount of natural gas the U.S. exported to Europe last year doubled, even exceeding 70 billion cubic meters.

On one hand, there was a significant increase in export volumes, and on the other hand, gas prices remained high. It is not an exaggeration to say that the United States is making a fortune by exporting natural gas to Europe.

While Europe is struggling with the energy crisis, the United States is making a windfall profit.

03

Is the United States not concerned about offending these European countries by doing so?

It is important to understand that the United States has always been a sophisticated egoist; any action it decides upon must be beneficial to the economic development of the United States. The U.S. has actually weighed the pros and cons, and this time is no exception.

The United States has two purposes in doing so.

The first purpose is that the United States wants to see Europe mired in an inflation crisis while transferring its own inflation.Since last year, the United States has been continuously raising interest rates, and this method of interest rate hikes can devalue the euro. Once the euro is devalued, its purchasing power is also weakened.

As a result, Europe needs to pay more euros to purchase various resources, including crude oil and natural gas, leading to a significant increase in import costs and a continuous push in price inflation, making it difficult for inflation to subside.

Finally, following the United States, Europe has also fallen into high inflation, a clever move that kills two birds with one stone.

Another aim of the United States is to attract more European companies, especially high-end manufacturing enterprises from Europe, to establish themselves in the U.S.

This is no different from bleeding Europe dry.

However, in reality, whether it comes to energy supply or price advantage, the United States has a more advantageous position over Europe. The United States has a stable energy supply that is also more cost-effective than Europe's, making it more attractive for European companies to set up factories in the U.S.

04

Now that winter is about to end, the natural gas that was originally stockpiled for the winter has been almost depleted. Europe seems to have found alternative sources of energy to replace Russian energy, but in fact, it has to pay a much higher cost.

Without Russian pipeline gas, Europe can only import liquefied natural gas from the United States, which is, of course, several times more expensive than long-term contract gas.

Poland, facing the cessation of pipeline crude oil operations, also claims that it can import crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East, but it has to be said that, in addition to the higher prices, the longer distances also mean higher transportation costs.It appears that Goldman Sachs' forecast was not mistaken, and perhaps Europe will face a new round of energy crisis this year.

The United States will take advantage of this opportunity to once again reap benefits from Europe.

Post Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *+