Asharq Business News with Bloomberg, 20 September 2022
“Geoeconomics: KSA emerges as pivotal center of world
economy as China dumps US energy imports” says EU
ASEAN Centre director
Maher Nicolas Firzli, EU ASEAN Centre, says we’re probably headed for a 4th monthly decline for the price of oil (Brent at $92.40 today), as the Federal Reserve Board will likely further raise interest rates, thus curbing economic growth and reducing fuel demand across the board.
We found ourselves in agreement with Amin H. Al-Nasser, CEO of Aramco, who spoke earlier this week at the Schlumberger Forum 2022 in Luzern, Switzerland: “years underinvestment in oil and natural gas in [the Europe Union, Britain and the United States]”… “That’s actually the real reason why we have a global energy crisis today”.
In Aug. 2022, China's oil imports from both Russia (+28% yr/yr) and Saudi Arabia (+5% yr/yr) surged “handing back the top supplier rank to KSA for first time in four months”. China reduced substantially its energy and commodities imports from Brazil, Canada,and the United States: perhaps a sign that the “Asianization of Asia”is accelerating because of the Ukraine tragedy and the harsh sanctions imposed hastily on Russia at the start of the conflict? The weaponization of finance and international law may yet prove to be a double-edged sword for NATO aligned policy makers and “liberal hawks” advocating an escalation of the conflict…
full interview: copy & paste http link in browser
"Cap on revenue of non-gas power plants may be illegal"
Asharq News w/ Bloomberg, 9 Sept. 2022 “Cap on revenue of non-gas power plants may be ‘illegal’… will hurt ESG in Europe”
M. Nicolas Firzli, EU ASEAN Centre, says the notion of capping Russian gas prices defies logic: “in the age of geoeconomics (Luttwak), this idea won’t fly without China, India and Saudi Arabia fully on board – and the three Asian giants have already signaled their disapproval”… Also, with parliamentary elections in Italy (25 Sept.) likely to yield a new center-right government coalition hostile to Ursula von der Leyen’s foreign policy stance, it’s difficult to see how such a price cap could be implemented…
Now, re: capping the revenue of non-gas power plants, EU members states may follow that ‘policy path of least resistance’… But such as hastily drafted measure would fly against the EU legal–constitutional order (Maastricht Treaty, neoliberal laissez-faire). Consequently, the owners of hydro, nuclear and renewable energy assets may be tempted to start lawsuits to protect their rightful interests (illegality of abrupt and retroactive laws, not to mention the sanctity of property rights, etc.)
full interview: copy & paste http link in browser
EAC Interview on Asharq News w/ Bloomberg re EU Price Cap
Maher Nicolas Firzli, EU ASEAN Centre, says the signals we are getting from the European Commission (EC) and from key European governments, particularly Germany, France and Spain, are quite perplexing: they’re trying to find simple fixes to a complex problem of their own making: the extreme deregulation of energy and commodities markets across Europe, the deliberate dismantlement of national energy conglomerates and the abandonment of nuclear energy etc. The “solution” which could come into play by the 9th of September 2022, through an abrupt attempt to separate artificially electricity prices from natural gas prices, can only “succeed” as a short-term fix…
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