The World may be decrying and imposing sanctions against Thug Putin and his warmongering in Ukraine. The reality is that the world’s insatiable appetite for oil and gas does not stop even as the Russian people are feeling the pain caused by Thug Putin’s War of Aggression.
Excerpted from Daily Mail U.K 3.1.2022
Vladimir Putin’s grip on the world’s oil and gas taps means that Europe and the US are still buying almost $1billion-a-day from Russia. The UK also imports smaller amounts from Russia.
It was revealed the West is still paying Russia more than $1billion-a-day for oil and gas that Putin can use to subsidise his $15billion-a-day invasion of Ukraine as his troops remain bogged down after hitting fierce resistance from Volodymyr Zelensky’s heroes.
Putin today moved to block foreign companies pulling out of Russia and trap their cash to prop up their imploding war economy after BP and Shell pledged to sell up £15billion ($20bn) of joint ventures following the invasion of Ukraine.
Mishutin has told a governmental meeting in Moscow that Russia will impose temporary curbs on foreign investors seeking to exit Russian assets to ensure they take a ‘considered decision not one driven by political pressure’. But Mishustin did not provide details about how it would be imposed, as Shell told MailOnline their plans to sever ties with Russia will continue as planned. BP is yet to comment.
The Russian PM said: ‘In the current sanction situation foreign entrepreneurs are forced to be guided, not by economic factors, but to make decisions under political pressure. In order to give business a chance to make a considered decision, a presidential order was prepared to impose temporary curbs on exit from Russian assets’.
Last night Shell said it will ditch its work with Gazprom and pull out of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline as Western powers reel from President Putin’s warmongering in Eastern Europe. Shell is said to have offered £600m of finance for the project.
Shell warned that it could take a £2.2billion hit as it laid out a plan to exit a series of projects. These include its 27.5pc stake in Sakhalin 2 – a flagship facility in the Russian Far East that is majority-owned by Gazprom and produces around 4pc of the world’s liquefied natural gas.
Shell did not announce who they would sell their stakes to. Shell isn’t quitting Russia altogether, however. It has a network of around 400 petrol stations and a lubricants business in the country which it said it intends to keep.
Shell’s announcement came a day after BP said that it was cutting ties with Kremlin-backed oil company Rosneft, valued at around £13billion last year. BP is now looking to offload its 19.75pc stake in Rosneft and current boss Bernard Looney has stepped down from the board.
ALL IS NOT GOOD FOR THUG PUTIN AT HOME
However, despite the huge daily cash injection from the West, the Kremlin is facing unprecedented liquidity problems. Its central bank, which raised interest rates to 20% yesterday, is expected to turn to its ally China to try to sell off Chinese assets worth up to $77billion back to Beijing. Britain, the EU and the US will be watching to see just how far President Xi is willing to support Putin and his war.
In a sign the Russian people are paying the price for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s currency dropped 30 per cent against the US dollar. It has stabilised this morning after hitting rock bottom yesterday.
And after days of turmoil on financial markets, regulators in Russia refused to open the Moscow stock exchange, while long queues formed outside banks as panicked families tried to withdraw cash.
A Moscovite called Anton said: ‘There are no dollars, no roubles – nothing. Well, there are roubles but I am not interested in them. I don’t know what to do next. I am afraid we are turning into North Korea or Iran right now’.
One designer called Andrey told the BBC that rising interests rates mean he can’t pay his mortgage. He said: ‘If I could leave Russia right now, I would. But I can’t quit my job’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10563533/US-Europe-paying-Kremlin-1BILLION-DAY-oil-gas.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ito=1490&ns_campaign=1490
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