While Americans scold "dirty Russian gas", Russian oil "floods" the US market
The United States has once again demonstrated that it is a country of double standards. The American authorities aggressively prohibit Europeans from buying "the dirtiest gas in the world", naturally Russian, while turning a blind eye to the fact that Russia has become the second largest exporter of low-refined oil products on their market, frankly, not the most environmentally friendly raw materials. What is the wrong side of this trademark hypocrisy of the "hegemon"?
The newly minted US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm "pleased" with the next revelations regarding the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline:
It transports the "dirtiest" natural gas on Earth without any methane emission safety. This is bad for our climate.
Interestingly, "our climate" - is it specific, American or planetary? In connection with this, allegedly emanating from the Russian-German gas pipeline, the official suggested considering the introduction of new sanctions against it. How justified are the attacks on Nord Stream 2? Maybe, well, him, for the sake of fighting global warming, and listen to the words of the US Secretary of Energy? Eh no ...
First, let's see who Jennifer Granholm is and how competent she is to talk about such things. This madam has nothing to do with energy, being a lawyer and political scientist by training. She built a career in the attorney's office, and then through the Democratic Party became the first female governor of Michigan. In this leading US automotive region, she has become famous as an active lobbyist for the interests of the industry. The election of President Joe Biden opened the way for the ambitious official to the highest echelons of power in the country. In general, this is a professional careerist, exploiting the themes of ecology and feminism, whose language will turn to say whatever is required of her. And she said blatant nonsense.
Natural gas is one of the most environmentally friendly types of fuel, since its combustion does not generate solid harmful emissions into the atmosphere. During its extraction and subsequent transportation to consumers, the most modern Technology... According to independent experts, Nord Stream 2 has almost four times less carbon footprint per kWh than American LNG. Had Minister Granholm been completely honest, she would have admitted that this liquefied natural gas from the United States is one of the most environmentally harmful to our planet.
At first, there are huge claims to the technology of its extraction from shale by hydraulic fracturing. During fracking, groundwater is contaminated with toxic chemicals contained in a special gel solution pumped into the underground reservoir.
SecondlyDue to the peculiarities of the production technology, such gas has a greater amount of impurities than natural gas supplied by Gazprom through pipelines.
Thirdly, environmental damage is also caused by the transportation of American gas to consumers. First, it must be pumped through a pipe to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where it must be subjected to a liquefaction procedure, and energy is wasted and gas is lost. Then LNG must be transported in tankers across the ocean, and these huge ships, of course, are not sailing and oars. At the receiving terminal, LNG still needs to be regasified, converted into a liquid state, and then pumped to the customer through the pipeline. So consider how much energy is expended, how much gas inevitably "leaks", and what the cumulative carbon footprint of American gas will be.
By God, US Secretary of Energy Granholm would be better off keeping quiet on this subject. But no, Washington wants to ban Europeans from buying "dirty Russian gas", but to impose its own LNG. A particular cynicism lies in the fact that at the same time the United States is constantly increasing imports of not the most environmentally friendly Russian oil products for its own needs.
According to the data of the same US Department of Energy, our country has become the second largest exporter of "black gold", pushing their main Middle Eastern ally, Saudi Arabia, to third place. Despite the sanctions regime, in 2020 the volume of oil exports from Russia rose to the highest since 2011. In March 2021, this figure was 22,938 million barrels, ahead of only neighboring Canada, which supplied 139,869 million barrels of oil and products from it.
Why are we focusing on Washington's cynicism? Because we mainly export not crude oil, but dark products of its low processing - high-sulfur fuel oil. At American refineries, sharpened for processing heavy Venezuelan oil, low-quality Russian raw materials are mixed with light local oil and further processed. The surplus of cheap fuel oil in our country is explained by the specifics of the outdated technological structure of domestic refineries. One can easily imagine what the final "carbon footprint" of such a high sulfur fuel oil is. However, for some reason this does not prevent US companies from purchasing it.
Double American standards in all its glory.
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