cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26410527
The EU is spending more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial aid to Ukraine, a report marking the third anniversary of the invasion has found.
The EU bought €21.9bn (£18.1bn) of Russian oil and gas in the third year of the war, according to estimates from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), despite the efforts under way to kick the continent’s addiction to the fuels that fund Vladimir Putin’s war chest.
The amount is one-sixth greater than the €18.7bn the EU allocated to Ukraine in financial aid in 2024, according to a tracker from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
From the article itself:
The aid figure does not include military or humanitarian contributions.
I love how you need to read 4 paragraphs, to learn it’s just sensationalist trash, made only for the headline.
That said, I do wish more support went to Ukraine.
Be aware that some member states (such as Slovakia, Austria and Hungary) are playing a big role in this, as they have explicitly stated that they do not want to stop consuming Russian gas due to the cheap prices.
While some member states (such as Germany & the Netherlands) are actively reducing the dependence on Russia, others are actively increasing it, which skews the average results and lead to articles like these.
This does play a re role, but relatively smaller one. EDIT: In regards to Russias total export volume piepline gas is only a smaller aspect. For the direct exports to EU the pipeline Gas does play a larger role. Relative to size Slovakia and Hungary import more from Russia, but in absolute terms France, Belgium and Spain are also importing significant amounts of LNG. I have put the graphic from the source at the end.
The most value comes from Oil and Oil products exported by ships. About half of the Russian LNG is also sold to EU countries, but it is a relatively small share of the total amount. You can see that the pipeline gas exports have declined strongly over the course of the war. But Oil only has taken a slight reduction.
The website also has graphs where the shipments go. For Turkey and India it is known that they help Russia circumvent EU sanctions, so a lot of the crude oil and oil products going there, end up back in the EU again.
Hey hi, it’s me, an American. I don’t want to hear any more of this “only some Europeans” stuff. If I get lumped in with a bunch of dumbasses all of Europe is huffing Putin’s gas.
It may be hard to grasp for you guys, but Europe is not one big country.
Here is the website and analysis for 12/2024 of the CREA:
Note that the figure €21.9bn in the article probably only refers to direct imports from Russia. The indirect imports through sanction circumvention using mainly India and Turkey likely adds another significant amount on top, however it is difficult to quantify.
Also since the discussion came up in regards to the German Left party, who did well in Sundays election. This is exactly what they mean, when they say that they want to focus on sanctions instead of weapon deliveries. The EU has been bankrolling Russias war effort well into 2023 and 2024. If you arm both sides in a war, it mainly serves to increase their losses, rather than changing the tide of the war.
Because fossil fuels provide half of Europe’s energy generation, and you can’t just give up buying it ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Well. We could. If we had listened and acted 30 years ago, when we already knew climate change was going to be bad. Now the Leopards are feasting.
The source makes a different claim?
Your source probably only refers to electricity. You also have to factor in heating and mobility.
That part does not include energy imports. Those make up 63% of the EUs energy consumption and are pretty much only fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.
I thought they put sanctions in place like a few years ago
There are sanctions on oil and coal, but none on gas. Russia cut off gas to most EU countries by themself, but last year was still selling gas via Ukraine and ships even more as LNG.
Does somebody know how much profit Russia makes on a Barrel of oil or a kWh/m³ of Gas?
Edit: Changed m³ to kWh
Is it not measured by mass? A volume of gas could be many amounts based on the pressure.
You’re right. I’ve googled it since I’ve fortunately never had Gas, and a big energy company wrote it’s measured in kWh/m³, but I guess the latter part doesn’t really matter to the end consumer
My gas delivery is measured in cubic feet, then multiplied by a tested current BTU into Therms and billed per Therm. Does that make sense?
Yes. It is best to measure gas in terms of its energy content. Natural gas is a mixture of different compounds, mainly methane, but also ethane and small quantities of propane.
The composition is different from source to source. However for information on the scale of countries imports and exports it is often measured by unpressurized volume, because that is much easier to keep track off. And then it does not matter so much, if the gas had 5% more or less kWh/m³
Well if it’s kept at constant pressure/density sure you can measure it in m³.
It honestly depends on the source of the gas (i.e. cost of extraction and refinement) and transport method (pipeline vs. shipped). It is difficult to average this over a long period of time. You could look at Gazprom’s reported profit margin, but again this is not helpful without context.
Prices I’ve seen are typically quoted in $/mmbtu - it’s a weird unit, but it works for whatever reason.
