Russia Destroying Its Role As Energy Superpower, Expert Claims

Daniel Yergin, an energy analyst and author of “The Prize” and “The New Map,” argues that the willy-nilly invasion of Ukraine has shattered the political fortunes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is destroying the foundation of his country’s economic power.

Photo Insert: By threatening to turn off the gas pipes, Putin succeeded in pushing the EU and other developed countries to rely on the US, UK, Norway, and other suppliers.

In an essay for The Economist, Yergin said Putin once said that he did not like hearing Russia described as an “energy superpower.” It reminded him, he said, too much of the cold war. But he has reveled in what his country’s energy resources have brought him—global political clout and massive revenues.

The consequences of the Ukraine war will turn Russia into a “reduced energy power” as Europe starts boycotting his natural gas exports and is turning to the US, Norway and the Middle East for energy supplies.

Putin has also demanded that Russian gas be paid in rubles when all existing contracts stipulate payments only through euros or US dollars.

By threatening to turn off the gas pipes, Putin succeeded in pushing the EU and other developed countries to rely on the US, UK, Norway, and other suppliers.

“This marks the end of an era that began three decades ago with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the years afterwards, for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution, the Russian oil industry rebounded and largely integrated with the global industry. Today Russia is one of the top three oil producers in the world (after America and roughly equal with Saudi Arabia) and is also the world’s largest natural-gas exporter and second-largest producer, again after America,” Yergin revealed.

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