Speaker 1: We do have Dan Myrtile with US Bloomberg's Asia Energy
Speaker 1: Reporter to take a closer look at this story about
Speaker 1: what looks to be dan to be sabotage on the
Speaker 1: nord Stream pipeline. Yeah, you know, as as everybody knows,
Speaker 1: you know, Russia has been sort of slowly squeezing off
Speaker 1: gas supplies to Europe for nearly a year now, ever
Speaker 1: since last winter, and it just took an unprecedged step yesterday. Um,
Speaker 1: there were two underwater explosions noticed by the Swedish authorities,
Speaker 1: and shortly after in those exact locations, uh, gas started
Speaker 1: bubbling up to the surface of the Baltic Sea. Uh.
Speaker 1: There's been no concrete um investigation done because it's so soon,
Speaker 1: but it certainly appears that some explosions, Uh, there's pipeline damage.
Speaker 1: Their gas is leaking out of the pipelines up into
Speaker 1: the atmosphere, which is horrible for the climate. And it's
Speaker 1: all but certainly mean that there will be no gas
Speaker 1: coming along the nord Stream one pipeline into into Europe
Speaker 1: this winter, which is just making the energy crisis they're
Speaker 1: that much more severe. Yeah, I was gonna say, what
Speaker 1: does this mean? And when we're already facing this very
Speaker 1: dire crossis because it does put at risk, what what
Speaker 1: little gas is still flowing to Northwest Europe from Russia
Speaker 1: very much at play. Yeah, you know, the at the
Speaker 1: time of the explosions yesterday, the pipelines had already both
Speaker 1: been basically um neutered by Russia. Nord Stream two had
Speaker 1: never even gotten off the ground, and nord Stream one
Speaker 1: had been had stopped delivering a couple of days ago
Speaker 1: after Russia said it had needed some maintenance issues done
Speaker 1: on a compressor station. Um. But this basically there there
Speaker 1: was some hope left in the market that you know,
Speaker 1: compressor stations could get fixed, some flows would resume, and
Speaker 1: Europe could get start getting some gas from Russia again
Speaker 1: this winter. Um, that hope is all but gone now,
Speaker 1: as the idea that this is possible sabotage means that
Speaker 1: you know, this is not just you know, whatever I
Speaker 1: thought you may have had, that this could all just
Speaker 1: the coincidence that Russia was squeezing off these supplies at
Speaker 1: the same time in the Ukraine War, that these maintenanceances
Speaker 1: just happen to happen at the same time. Very very
Speaker 1: few people are confident that that that's possibly the case.
Speaker 1: Now everybody is gas traders are starting to price in
Speaker 1: the idea that Russia really wants to to punish Europe
Speaker 1: for its support of Ukraine. And there's no real arbitrage
Speaker 1: opportunities here. I mean, they can't exactly get supply in
Speaker 1: from from other places. I mean they can, but but
Speaker 1: it's it's limited in scope, and and so you wonder
Speaker 1: what the political ramifications from this might be. You know,
Speaker 1: the European countries are trying to do several things, depending
Speaker 1: on the country. A couple of them have ellen g
Speaker 1: terminals and pipelines from elsewhere. Um Italy, which used to
Speaker 1: get about of its pipeline or its gas supply from Russia,
Speaker 1: has said that it's made arrangements to make sure it's
Speaker 1: going to get all of its gas from other sources
Speaker 1: this winter. Germany is scrambling to build lergy import terminals
Speaker 1: so it can bring in more cargoes from the Middle
Speaker 1: East from the US UM. But but there are props
Speaker 1: with that, as you alluded to. You know, other countries
Speaker 1: want that that those lergy cargoes, other countries that are
Speaker 1: used to getting it um. You know, Europe's demand has
Speaker 1: put gas prices through the roof lerg freight prices. These
Speaker 1: tankers are going for sometimes up near two hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a day um. All of this stuff is skyrocketing,
Speaker 1: and it's hurting economies all over the world, merging economies
Speaker 1: like Pakistan and Bangladesh, who you know, we're reliant on
Speaker 1: natural gas but can't afford to pay these these super
Speaker 1: high fees, that can't apport afford to compete with with
Speaker 1: rich countries like Germany for these limited supplies. So it's
Speaker 1: you know, the pain in Europe is is cute, but
Speaker 1: but it's actually spreading through the rest of the world
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah. Indeed, and we've been saying that in
Speaker 1: terms of US gasoline spikes as well. Just tell us
Speaker 1: what we're watching, because there's also refinery outages in the
Speaker 1: Midwest adding to this story too. Yeah, you know, the
Speaker 1: US market is um the US is actually in probably
Speaker 1: the best shape of any major economy in terms of
Speaker 1: energy just because it has you know, plentiful supply of
Speaker 1: its own oil and gas. It's become a major exporter
Speaker 1: in recent years. But you know, there's a hurricane flowing
Speaker 1: through the Gulf of Mexico. That's going to be hurting
Speaker 1: gasoline supplies in Florida and oil supplies in the Gulf Mexico.
Speaker 1: There's you know, refinery adages that are threatening to to
Speaker 1: halt this long decline in gasolene prices that that Joe
Speaker 1: Biden was so excited about heading into the mid term
Speaker 1: elections later this fall. Um. You know, the energy market
Speaker 1: globally is just incredibly tight right now, and it's going
Speaker 1: to remain that way through the winter. I guess we
Speaker 1: should ask you briefly. These gas leaks would be posing
Speaker 1: some risks environmental and safety risks. So what do we
Speaker 1: know so far? Yeah, I mean, several of the European
Speaker 1: nations around they have created no no travel zones around
Speaker 1: these gas leaks, which are still bubbling up to the
Speaker 1: surface at least as of the last time there was
Speaker 1: light out that we could see. Um um and natural gas.
Speaker 1: The biggest component is a is a gas called messy
Speaker 1: that's a H four and it is an incredibly potent
Speaker 1: greenhouse gas. It traps heat at eighty times the rate
Speaker 1: that carbon dioxide does. So it's uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: bubbling up to the atmosphere and just going to soak
Speaker 1: up there and really push more global warming. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: even as everything the world was trying to do to
Speaker 1: halt climate change on that night, Unfortunately down we have
Speaker 1: to leave at their denmotop bloom Bows Asia Energy Reporter