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Several years ago I wrote a small article about Natural Gas (or as it is known in Russia, Gaz) would start taking the lead against oil. I said that oil is loosing its crown. The supply of gas is vast in comparison to oil…

I remember well that it was not received well by what I said and I ended up with several comments and emails about basically how stupid I was…

Ok – Wall Street Journal now has posted an article and of course now the world will start believing that Gas has huge future potential…

Natural Gas Entering “Golden Age”…

New York, June 06 (QNA) – The increasing abundance of cheap natural gas, coupled with rising demand for the fuel from China and the fall-out from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, may have set the stage for a “golden age of gas,” the International Energy Agency said Monday. Under a scenario set out by the IEA, global consumption of natural gas could rise by more than 50% over the next 25 years, with it accounting for more than a quarter of global energy demand by 2035, up from 21% now, reported the Wall Street Journal Monday…

But while natural gas is more clean-burning than coal and oil, it is still a fossil fuel, and its increased use will lead to higher emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, the IEA warned. More gas will also mean less take-up for low-carbon energy sources like renewables and nuclear power. “An expansion of gas use alone is no panacea for climate change,” said Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA”s executive director. The global natural gas market is in the midst of a revolution that has huge implications for the future of energy. In the U.S., technological advances like hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in which water laced with chemicals is injected into the ground to crack open dense, gas-bearing shale rock have fueled a surge in production from vast new gas reserves stretching from Texas to Pennsylvania. Such techniques are now being applied in other countries with big shale-gas resources, such as China…

The IEA says that over the next 25 years, 40% of the growth in total gas production will come from unconventional gas. The shale revolution has led to substantial upward revisions in estimates for total global reserves of gas. The IEA says there are enough gas resources to sustain current production levels for more than 250 years. And unlike oil, which is concentrated in the politically fragile Middle East, gas is widely dispersed geographically, making it attractive from an energy security perspective. The rise of shale has coincided with a massive expansion of the global trade in liquefied natural gas or LNG, which has vastly increased the availability of a fuel that for decades could only be pumped via pipelines…

Gas has also benefited from the repercussions of Fukushima. Japan”s gas demand has shot up after the disaster forced it to take much of its nuclear capacity off line. And long term, Germany”s gas consumption is also expected to grow strongly after it decided last month to shut down its 17 nuclear reactors. But the biggest factor in the development of global gas markets over the coming years is likely to be China, the IEA says. There, demand is expected to soar as the government moves to improve air quality in the country”s heavily-polluted cities by switching from coal to gas in power generation, and running more commercial vehicles and buses on natural gas rather than gasoline…

Under the IEA”s new “golden age of gas” scenario, China”s consumption of the fuel would rise from the level of Germany in 2010 to match that of the entire European Union in 2035. To meet the growth in demand, annual gas production would have to increase by 1.8 trillion cubic meters by 2035 about three times the current output of Russia…

The IEA sounded a note of caution on the boom in shale gas, saying concerns about the possible environmental impact of fracking made the outlook for unconventional gas production “uncertain.” Some conservation groups fear fracking can contaminate drinking-water supplies, though the industry insists the technique is safe when performed properly. Fatih Birol, the IEA”s chief economist, said the agency”s high gas consumption scenario depended on a number of factors among them, the industry”s ability to fully address public concerns about fracking, excessive water use and the risk of contamination. “If gas companies want to see a golden age of gas, they need to apply golden standards for…producing gas,” he said. (QNA)

You would think that people would be estatic with natural gas already. It is simple molecule and produces only half the greenhouse gas emissions of oil byproducts, and is easily available in large quantities in the modern countries though a web of all ready installed pipelines and where it is not available, that is easily solved. The byproducts of its combustion are mainly water and carbon dioxide, not the deadly emissions that gasoline and diesel fuel emit. I was personally part of a team in high school back in the 70’s that converted a car to run on natural gas and also propane (hence my love for running propane now on my Russian Volga Wagon), and while it had short comings due to our limitations back then. A corporation could have easily clarified issues and created natural gas cars for us laymen to use…

I do have issues with fracking, but that is another whole article…

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Abkhazia recognized by one more state:
One more state – the island state Vanuatu in Oceania – has recognized the independence of Abkhazia.The Voice of Russia has a copy of a diplomatic agreement signed on the 23d of May…

Read More >>>

Source: Voice of Russia.

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Update: Vanuatu’s FM has confirmed the recognition of Abkhazia, a press-release on the government web-site says. Earlier, Georgia claimed that the island’s government denied the recognition.

The South Pacific Island announced the recognition in late May despite the fact that its envoy to the UN denied it.

The breakaway republic has also been recognized by Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Today Russians mark International Russian Language Day, as well as the 212th birth anniversary of the Great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin…

Alexander Pushkin is considered by many all over the world to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature…

I do know that as Sveta and I travel Russia and Ukraine, we see lots of statues erected in his honor…

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Coffee this cool morning in Moscow was excellent. Nothing better when the temperature is around 10 degrees Centigrade (50 F.)…

I was doing some thinking’s about Medvedev, the Russian president. I realized that he has become basically (and by his own actions) a lame duck as president. He has lost much of the respect that he had garnered and now he puts a coup de grâce on what was left of his reputation by doing an about face and stabbing China in the back. Medvedev once again showed that he is too immature and weak to handle the helm of Russia…

I have given Medvedev all the chances in the world and supported him for years on this blog. But I see the writing on the wall and can no longer ignore the foolhardy actions of a man in control of one of the most powerful countries in the world. With that power comes responsibilities and moralities…

When Medvedev waltzed into the recent G8 meeting, the Russian people had expectations that needed to be addressed and they where watching Medvedev to see what he would do. They got their answer as Medvedev turn coated and kissed the Western Ass again over Libya. It was as if a collective moan of disbelief crossed Russia at the same moment when it was announced that Medvedev made the statement that Libya needs a regime change…

The murmurs of Medvedev is a Western Puppet have just become louder…

With all Medvedev’s anti Bribery and Anti Corruption talk, who would have thought that he would allow the West to buy him out…

No wonder the West is pushing Medvedev for Russian president…

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From what I see there use to be an option on Russian election ballots that allowed Russians to vote against all parties involved in said elections. They could express that all options to vote for were so bad that they did not want to vote for anyone…

A Just Russia party leader Sergei Mironov, the former Federal Council speaker, called Friday on President Dmitry Medvedev to again give Russians the option to vote “Against All” in elections.

“We consider it necessary to return the Against All option to the election law and the voting ballots. People with solid citizenship want to express their point of view, and now we are depriving them of this right,” Mironov said during a meeting with Medvedev.

Mironov said that when there is no suitable candidate on offer and no Against All option on the ballot, people see no sense in going to the polls. He added that the Against All column is a “barometer of society’s well-being.”

There was no information about Medvedev’s response.

Now this is a great idea for Russia to reinstate and for America to add to her ballots. Instead of voting for the best of the two evils you can vote – “Against All”… 🙂

Can you imaging 51% or more of the people vote against all? Looks like it would be time to find some better candidates…

That could be a powerful tool to have on a ballot…

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Looks like Russia is on a roll: What with a June 15th 2011 deadline. Russia will put a ban on the import of all beef from Brazil for “sanitation worries.” (?) Russia has also banned the import of potatoes from Egypt because of “sanitation worries.” (?) Then of course we have all heard that because of the outbreak of E. coli found in European vegetables, Russia’s sanitary watchdog has banned all imports of vegetables from Europe…

Is there a master chess move behind all thee banning of food imports? Or was someone bored and need to spice international life up around the world?

Maybe Russia will ban chicken again from America and is German pork still banned in Russia?

I guess we will just watch and see what comes out of all this… 🙂

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Update: Russia’s ban on vegetable imports from the European Union goes against the norms of the World Trade Organization, EU representative in Moscow Fernando Valenzuela said on Friday. Valenzuela said that the EU believed that Russia was on the final stage of talks to join the world trade club, which implies accepting WTO agreements on sanitary norms. Valenzuela said Russia’s vegetable imports from the EU amount to 600 million euros and play an important role in bilateral trade relations…

Well it all makes sense now! One thing that Putin has made clear is that Russia is not in the WTO and does not need to follow the rules. It costs Russia money to follow the rules and not be a member. So until Russia is made a member. Putin told everyone to quit following WTO rules. It just makes sense and Russia being the last powerhouse of an economy to be blocked form joining the WTO really has no financial reason to obey the WTO rules. If WTO wants Russia to follow the rules then WTO needs to make Russia a member and not expects something for nothing…

Putin on acquiring WTO and obligations: Putin said, Russia is being forced to “sustain losses” and “gets nothing out of a membership that isn’t,”.

“Why in hell would they admit us (WTO) if we do everything anyway? Russia is doing for free that which costs money!”

He then said, “Here is a direct order – don’t do that,”.

“I am asking you – and also tell this to our partners: We will not fulfill anything until we become full fledged members,” Putin said.

http://windowstorussia.com/quote-of-the-day-russias-putin-04082011.html

Just plain makes sense now… 🙂

Geidar Jemal, chairman of the Islamic Council of Russia:

First, I think that the NATO declaration about its readiness to prolong the bombings of Libya for some 90 days is a sign of weakness, because previously I remember they were telling us about their readiness to bomb as long as necessary.

Now limiting the bombings by a certain period of time, by 90 days, surely marks transformation of a very hard policy into something more rational. 90 days is not as long as necessary, because nobody understands what time is necessary. So, 90 days is a sign of unstableness, of certain confusion, because they were certainly expecting Gaddafi to cry ‘Uncle!’ after the first 3 days of bombing, maybe a week of bombing.

But we’ve been witnessing several months of severe punishment, which is given to Libya, to its civil population – because we should take into account the information coming from the Libyan government about more than 7,000 of civil victims of these bombings. This has been going on and on, and nobody sees any end to it. So, 90 days is a manifestation of confusion among European Union’s political and military leaders. It’s absolutely obvious that they are losing the war.

And the European Parliament is divided into factions. There’s a faction advocating peace, which is going to take some measures against Berlusconi and Sarkozy. And the public opinion is also divided. People know there are civil casualties in Libya, and no one believes in humanitarian goals of the European Union. So, 90 days may be a shadow of defeat looming over political leaders.

And certainly this is not helping Sarkozy in his campaign for presidency, same as it is not helping him down his rival Strauss-Kahn, who was charged with sexual harassment. Everybody understands that it was the actual French president who initiated the case. And it didn’t help Sarkozy to remove his adversary from the political scene. Libya is much the same case. He thought it would be a short victorious war with declared humanitarian rules. But everyone understands now Sarkozy proved to be just a fool, who put himself into a very uncomfortable situation – himself and Europe too.

I think Gaddafi is playing very cleverly, that times works for him. And even if he doesn’t manage to keep his post and leaves the country, he’s done the European Union so much harm – not by himself, but the European Union, through him, has done so much harm to itself, it is European Union’s guilt – that this harm with stay with the Europeans. Nobody will ever say that the European Union helps peoples to do away with totalitarian regimes.

Everybody understands that it is an absolutely inhuman intrusion into the interior life of peoples and so below the European morality that it had been hardly imaginable before all this happened. Now we see that Europe is absolutely hypocritical, that it thinks in double standards. And 90 days is, I think, a declaration of defeat.

Geidar Jemal

Original Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/02/51200012.html

We took a pleasant journey this weekend to our village home. Thought you might be interested in what we pay for gasoline and propane here in Russia…

Filled up the tank with petrol (gasoline) this week – 21 rubles a liter…
Filled up the LPG (propane) tank this week – 14 rubles a liter…

3.78541178 liters = 1 gallon…

79.5 rubles per gallon for petrol (gasoline) = $2.84 an American gallon for gasoline…
53 rubles per gallon for LPG (propane) = $1.89 per American gallon for propane…

Our trip we just took was just a few km short of a 1000km and we drove all but about 10km on propane. No issues on getting fuel at any time and no waiting lines for fuel anywhere…

Gotta love that LPG…

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PS: I keep seeing the medias in the West proclaim that Russia is collapsing from Fuel shortage.  I have yet to see a gasoline issue in Russia. Lines at the Moscow stations are normal for the 5 years that I have lived here. Propane is not an issue. Moscow is the only place that seems to have high prices but that is easy to get around, just look at the prices before you buy. There can be as much as 5 or 6 rubles difference in price per liter and the stations are right next to each other… 🙂

I was sipping that great cup of coffee this morning and doing some thinking’s on what I have watched developed during the last year between Russia and China. It has been a low key development and the Russian news has been giving tidbits of information about the energy plans being geared toward China by Russia. Low key on the news front but huge on the energy front…

An example of this information is this : Russian Deputy Prime-Minister Igor Sechin said on Tuesday following the seventh round of the China-Russia energy negotiators’ meeting that Russia will finalize a 30-year deal with China by the 10th of June to supply a total of 68 billion cubic meters of gas annually… (Read More >>>)

Now my thoughts over that morning cup of coffee were about all the new pipelines for oil and gas lines, that have been built or being built to China. This weekend I watched trains with oil tank and coal cars going toward China. The trains had hundreds of cars attached full of oil and coal. I am here to tell you that China is taking all the oil and gas that Russia will give to her and if China could get all of Europe’s oil and gas they would take that also. The only thing that has stemmed the flow of gas is a price haggling between Russia and China for now and that will soon be overcome…

I did an article a year or so ago about how all oil was transported to China by train car from Russia. Then Russia opened a oil pipeline. The pipeline is flowing and the train cars are still rolling… (That should tell you something!)

Russia and China are also close to an agreement to build a joint oil refinery and that will signal a beginning of a new market era in oil byproducts between Russia and China…

China is an energy consumer and Russia is an energy supplier. That alone ensures that they will be in bed together and they live right next door to each other to boot…

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Windows to Russia!