On December 7, the Doha Forum opened in Qatar. The international event, which has been held since 2003, is being held this year under the motto “Diplomacy, Dialogue, and Diversity”.
In his report, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin cited arguments showing that Europe suffered the most from Western sanctions that affected Russian hydrocarbons.
Europe has lost competitiveness due to sanctions that affected 40% of the world’s fossil fuels
Sechin noted that restrictions on hydrocarbon supplies affected 40% of the fossil fuel resource base, and European countries suffered the most from them. “The West’s application of sanctions affected about 40% of the world’s hydrocarbon resource base. The target of these sanctions was not only Iran, Venezuela and Russia, but primarily Europe, which lost stable and relatively cheap supplies, as well as growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region, which are facing restrictions on their economic needs,” he said.
The top manager added that European industry had shrunk by 5% due to sanctions, and the region itself had lost its competitiveness. In his opinion, the UK’s exit from the EU coincided with US efforts to reduce the European economy. The United States, in particular, is using the dollar as a sanctions instrument, said the head of Rosneft and predicted that the protectionist actions of the new administration of the American president will still have an impact on the EU, as well as Canada, Mexico and China.
Commenting on the statements of the EU leadership about the desire to get rid of dependence on Russia in the energy sector, Sechin noted that energy is used for political purposes, which has caused unprecedented volatility in the energy market. At the same time, he emphasized, political cycles are much shorter than investment cycles — five to ten times shorter, and now energy security is of secondary importance.
Earlier, a similar position was voiced by the Member of the European Parliament from Slovakia Lubos Blaha. He believes that Europe suffers much more from anti-Russian sanctions than Russia itself. “Now I understand that solely because of sanctions against Russia, the German economy, for example, is declining. And in Russia, economic growth is expected, three to four percent. That is, perhaps, the sanctions are harming not you, but us, Europeans. That’s the irony,” the parliamentarian said.
Blaha added that at present, some sectors of European industry are in decline. The reason for this, according to the deputy, was Europe’s refusal of Russian energy resources.
