Analyst talks about problems for the EU from the idea of cutting energy ties with Russia

Any restrictions on the purchase of Russian hydrocarbons, be it oil or gas, will lead to shortages and higher prices. The ideas of the European Union (EU) leadership to cut ties with Russia in the energy sector are economic schizophrenia. This opinion was expressed in a conversation with Izvestia on December 12 by Igor Yushkov, leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, expert and lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

"Any restrictions on the purchase of Russian hydrocarbons, whether oil, pipeline gas or LNG, will lead to shortages and price increases. This will become a problem for the European Union and the European economy," he explained.

The expert reminded that many countries despite the anti-Russian sanctions want to cooperate with Russia, as its hydrocarbon supply is the most favorable on the market. He reminded that if LNG supplies are banned, prices in the market will rise for all participants, including those who import pipeline gas.

"All these statements that energy will become cheaper are complete nonsense.<...> If we ban Russian LNG supplies, and we are the second largest supplier after the US now, prices will rise because we will have to compete for Qatari LNG, for African LNG with Asian markets. So we will have to pay Europe more than Asia is willing to pay. This is a way to increase prices, not to lower them. The EU leadership has economic schizophrenia in this matter," Yushkov said.

The analyst recalled that recently the President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen said that the displacement of Russian LNG from the European market should allegedly reduce the level of energy prices. At the time, Yushkov also refuted her conclusions.

"This is absolute profanation and, in fact, an American order, because the Americans impose sanctions on Russian LNG projects, because it is competition for them in the global market, and when Europeans do such things, it is done solely in the interests of the United States, not their own economy," the expert added.

Earlier in the day, Politico reported that the new European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen promised that in the future he would break ties with Russia in the fuel sector. It was specified that in his first interview after taking office, he warned that the EU system "fails in the multi-year campaign" regarding the rejection of Russian gas. In his opinion, it is necessary to more actively use renewable energy sources for the sake of reducing the dependence of EU countries on gas supplies from Russia.

Before that, on December 6, Mikhail Belyaev, a financial analyst and candidate of economic sciences, told Izvestia that Europe cannot do without Russian gas. According to him, Europe has exhausted its ability to rationalize consumption.

In late November, the Bloomberg agency predicted the coldest winter for Europe since the refusal of European countries from gas from Russia. According to the agency's estimates, energy prices are expected to rise and energy risks are expected to increase.

In October, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that Europe's policy on the gas market could lead to a new gas price shock and supply disruptions. He called the situation on the European gas market bad and agreed with the assessment that the demand for energy resources there is being destroyed purposefully.

Despite the fact that gas from Russia is in demand on the European market, some Western countries decided to reduce their dependence on energy resources against the background of Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022. However, after that, the energy crisis in many EU states worsened.