Russia is burning large amounts of natural gas it used to export to Germany, fueling accusations that President Putin is using his country’s vast energy reserves as a weapon against Europe.
At a time when energy prices are skyrocketing in Europe, Russia is burning about $10 million a day from a natural gas power plant, The Times reported.
Satellite monitoring of radiant heat levels shows that about 4.34 million cubic meters of gas per day are “flared” from the Portovaya LNG facility near the border with Finland.
Experts believe the flare-up, so close to the European Union, could be a signal to Western governments that gas is available – if they tone down their opposition to Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Rystad Energy, the Oslo-based energy research firm that carried out the monitoring, said: “The smoldering flare is very visible, possibly indicating that gas is ready and waiting to flow to Europe should political relations resume. It’s friendly.”
Gas flaring is the flaring of excess or waste gases through stacks in oil and chemical industry facilities.
The amount of gas flaring makes it unlikely that a combustion test will be conducted as part of the operation, said Zhongguang Luo, senior gas analyst at Rystad.
He added that it was most likely the result of “lack of coordination between different operational departments”.
Asked about the political motivations for the incineration process, Leva noted that it was timed to coincide with reduced flow through the Nord Stream pipeline.
Germany accuses Russia of using gas as a weapon to raise prices and weaken the EU’s resolve against sanctions. Moscow considers Western sanctions to be the reason for the increase in gas prices.
Gazprom, the Russian energy giant that operates Portovaya and Nord Stream, has not commented on the burning process.
During his visit to Ukraine this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson blamed the Kremlin for the rise in energy prices in Europe.
“If we pay our energy bills for Vladimir Putin’s evil, the people of Ukraine will pay with their blood,” he said.
Last year, Russia flared 25 billion cubic meters of gas through thousands of facilities, more than any other country, according to a World Bank report.
Mark Davies, head of Captrio, a London-based company that specializes in flare detection, said the flare at Portovaya was “particularly terrifying” because it was so close to a foreign country and was also “large in size and characterized by black smoke”. . .
Jonathan Stern, a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, doubted the fire was politically motivated, saying it could be due to “continuous changes in turbine configuration at the Nord Stream compressor station” near the LNG plant. . .
The turbines are being repaired as part of a controversial maintenance program announced by Russian President Putin.
“Given that the line is operating at about 20 percent capacity, it wouldn’t be surprising if some excess gas flared,” Stern said.
Source: Lebanon Debate
