London and Washington have struck a new energy security deal to reduce “global dependence” on Russia. It was announced in a joint statement by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden, published on Wednesday, December 7, on the British government’s website.
“Under the new UK-US Energy Security and Affordability Partnership, the UK and US will work to reduce global dependence on Russian energy exports, stabilise energy markets and intensify cooperation on energy efficiency, nuclear energy and renewable energy,” it said.
According to the statement, the long-term goal is to facilitate a sustainable energy transition to zero emissions by 2050.
According to Gazeta.Ru, the parties will continue close cooperation on carbon capture and storage.
Earlier, on December 3, the British politician and leader of the Heritage Party David Curtin criticized the decision of the G7 countries to introduce a price cap on Russian oil. He conceded that in such a situation Russia would simply sell its oil to China and India at market price.
The G7 countries and Australia agreed to a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian oil on December 2. The new policy went into effect on December 5. On the same day, the European Union member states reached an agreement on a price cap on Russian energy. The bloc settled on $60, even though the Baltic States and Poland insisted on $30.
On November 30, economist Mikhail Belyaev called US ambitions the cause of the energy crisis in Europe. In his opinion, economic and energy cooperation between Russia and Europe always seemed natural, especially after perestroika. It made sense for European countries to rely on Moscow when it came to energy supply and to create a common market for gas and oil, and only the ambitions of the U.S. managed to throw the established system out of balance.
A day earlier, Bloomberg columnist Jack Wittels wrote that sanctions against Russian diesel would be a big problem for Europe. He noted that Russia was still the largest supplier of diesel in the region.
On November 28, the agency predicted Western dependence on Asia without fuel from Russia. The media stressed that with European countries and the US abandoning Russian oil products, there was a risk of deepening their dependence on China and Kuwait.
Western countries decided to reduce their dependence on Russian energy resources amid Russia’s special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced on 24 February. However, this has already caused economic problems in Europe, with skyrocketing fuel, food and utility prices.
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