Inter-Imperialist and Inter-Cartel
Contention over Control of the Energy Sector
Contention over Russian Pipelines to Europe
The overriding issue for Canadians concerning
the energy sector is "Who Controls and Who
Decides?" To assert rational scientific planning
and social responsibility over the production and
distribution of carbon and other energy resources,
the people must wrest control of the sector away
from the global cartels.
Contention among the imperialists in the energy
sector has become increasingly severe especially
since the fracking boom in oil and natural gas
production in the United States. The coup in
Ukraine and the subsequent anti-Russian positions
of the coup government form the backdrop for
attacks against Russian oil and gas exports to
Europe. The U.S. with its now oversupply of
natural gas compared with its internal demand, and
with a similar situation developing with oil but
less desire to export it, has launched a concerted
campaign to displace Russian energy in Europe with
natural gas exported from the U.S. as LNG.
U.S. Energy Oligarchs Strive for Global
Hegemony
With increased production from hydraulic
fracturing, the U.S. energy cartels are now
positioned to export some oil and lots of natural
gas as LNG with Europe as a main target.
Consequent to the rapid increase in domestic
supply, the United States has had a massive shift
in LNG terminal planning and construction starting
in 2010-2011. Many brand-new LNG import-designed
terminals are planning, or have begun, to add
liquefaction facilities and intend to operate
instead as export terminals.
In 2019, many regasification plants have been
converted to liquefaction trains (facilities) i.e.
Sabine pass and others. Seven liquefaction plants
in the U.S. have been built or are under
construction. On November 21, 2019, U.S.
regulators approved permits for three new
liquefied natural gas export terminals in the Rio
Grande Valley in Texas. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission approved permits for Rio
Grande LNG, Annova LNG and Texas LNG at the Port
of Brownsville.
Standing in the way of increased U.S. exports of
LNG to Europe is the availability of much cheaper
Russian gas arriving through pipelines. The amount
of Russian gas available to Europe is poised to
greatly increase with the completion of two new
pipelines: Nord Stream 2 and Turkstream.
The U.S. is violently opposed to both pipelines.
It put in place punishing sanctions against all
participants in Russia's Nord Stream 2 expansion
bringing it to a halt. Nord Stream 2 will triple
its current capacity. It includes the world's
longest undersea pipeline linking Russia to
Germany via the Baltic Sea so as to avoid going
through the Ukraine. The U.S. has also imposed
sanctions against any company participating in
Turkstream, a gas pipeline running from Russia to
Turkey, where it can be transferred to existing
pipelines into central Europe. Both projects are
near completion but stalled because of U.S.
opposition and sanctions.
The inter-imperialist and inter-cartel contention
over energy resources and markets arises from the
control of the economy and politics by the
financial oligarchy. This control blocks the
people from asserting their control on the energy
sector and taking it in a new pro-social direction
to humanize the social and natural environment and
avoid war.
Note
Of note especially for Canadians is that the
Dutch-British energy cartel Royal Dutch Shell is a
major investor in Nord Stream 2. The Shell energy
cartel is also the lead investor in LNG Canada,
which is building a gas pipeline across northern
BC to Kitimat on the coast. A liquefaction plant
is being constructed in Kitimat to convert the gas
to LNG for export to Asia.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 12 -
Article Link:
Inter-Imperialist and Inter-Cartel
Contention over Control of the Energy Sector: Contention over Russian Pipelines to Europe
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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