Latest news with #BalticSea
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
German officials attack Polish oil extraction plans in Baltic Sea
German officials and environmental groups have hit out at Polish plans to develop a newly discovered oil and gas field in the Baltic Sea, warning of potentially 'catastrophic' damage to local ecosystems, German media reported on Tuesday. Canadian company Central European Petroleum (CEP), which has held exploration rights off Poland's western coast since 2017, announced the discovery of the Wolin East deposit on Monday, describing it as Poland's largest hydrocarbon discovery and one of the biggest in Europe in a decade. The deposit lies 6km off the Polish port of Swinoujscie near the island of Wolin, close to the German holiday island of Usedom. CEP estimates its recoverable reserves at over 33 million tons of oil and 27 billion cubic meters of gas, with production potential of more than 400 million barrels of oil equivalent. German officials, however, fear the project will harm local tourism and ecosystems. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Environment Minister Till Backhaus warned the plans run 'counter to the environmental and tourism interests of the German side,' and criticized Poland for not informing Berlin of exploration 'with potentially transboundary environmental impacts' in advance, allegedly in violation of cross-border environmental agreements. Concerns have also been raised about noise, vibrations, and possible damage to marine flora and fauna. Laura Isabelle Marisken, mayor of the Heringsdorf resort on Usedom, called for clarification from the Polish government and protection from Berlin, stating the area was 'not a place for industrial-political poker games.' Environmental group Lebensraum Vorpommern accused Poland of 'destroying the nature-protected Wolin Baltic Sea coast' and warned of an 'environmental catastrophe.' It said it plans to sue the Polish government. There has so far been no official reaction to the planned extraction from Berlin. Poland considers the discovery a 'breakthrough' that could reduce its reliance on energy imports. Undersecretary of State and Chief Geologist Krzysztof Galos said the deposit may cover 4-5% of annual oil demand, with production starting in 3-4 years, pending permits. The EU has been scrambling to replace Russian energy after supplies dwindled due to Ukraine-related sanctions. Moscow has denounced the restrictions as illegal, warning the bloc will be forced to rely on more expensive alternatives or indirect imports.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
German officials up in arms over oil, gas deposit found in Poland
Local politicians in north-eastern Germany were up in arms on Tuesday, after news broke that a major oil and gas deposit has been discovered in neighbouring Poland, with some experts also cautioning against extraction. The find off the Polish Baltic coast by Canadian company Central European Petroleum (CEP) was hailed as a possible "breakthrough moment" in Poland, but officials across the border in Germany were quick to point out that extracting fossil fuels should not take priority in times of climate change. "Our future does not lie in oil from the Baltic Sea, but in energy from the sun, wind and biomass," said Till Backhaus, environment minister of the coastal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which borders Poland. "The project stands for a backward-looking industrial policy in terms of climate policy, which is contrary to the interests of the environment and tourism on the German side," he added. Major breakthrough? The Wolin East offshore oil field discovered by CEP is said to be located around 6 kilometres from the port city of Świnoujście on the fringes of north-western Poland. Parts of the city are located on the island of Usedom, which is divided between Germany and Poland. According to the results of test drilling, the recoverable reserves of crude oil and natural gas are estimated at 200 million barrels of oil equivalent. CEP said the Wolin East site is estimated to represent "the largest conventional hydrocarbon field" ever discovered in Poland and "one of the largest conventional oil discoveries in Europe in the past decade." If the deposit is confirmed, this "may prove to be one of the breakthrough moments in the history of hydrocarbon exploration in Poland," said the country's chief national geologist Krzysztof Galos. "The future development of this site may significantly contribute to strengthening Poland's energy security and reducing its dependence on external hydrocarbon suppliers," he told news agency PAP. Mining could begin in three to four years, with the field estimated to be able to cover 4% to 5% of Poland's annual oil demand for several years, according to Galos. CEP has held a licence for exploration off the western Polish coast since 2017. Officials and experts sound alarm Officials in the German part of Usedom were less euphoric, however, with the mayor of the town of Heringsdorf noting the area's status as a nature conservation area. "We are a spa and holiday resort. We do everything we can to keep our beaches, our town and the sea clean," said Laura Isabelle Marisken. "Heavy industrial gas and oil extraction right on our doorstep, it's obvious that this is a massive intrusion into our natural environment." The German Institute for Economic Research also advised against exploiting the oil field, noting not only possible considerable negative consequences for tourism, but also the risk of cross-border pollution caused by an accident. "In addition, the promotion of fossil fuels thwarts climate protection goals," said Claudia Kemfert, head of the institute's Energy, Transport and Environment Department. "The costs and benefits [of the project] are therefore disproportionate."
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Why is a Russian ‘shadow fleet' using Irish waters?
Earlier this month, the Sierra tanker set off from a Russian port on the Baltic Sea laden with thousands of tonnes of crude oil and set a course for India. There was nothing unusual about that – Russia has continued to export vast amounts of fossil fuels despite the international sanctions imposed following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, when the Sierra, a 250 metre tanker, reached Dutch waters, it did something which left maritime and naval experts scratching their heads. Instead of taking the safest and most economically efficient route through the English Channel and down the coast of France, the ship abruptly turned north. It sailed all the way around the British Isles into the North Atlantic before coming down the Irish west coast on July 10th. It skirted down the very edge of the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) before continuing south to India. READ MORE Two weeks previously, the Marathon, another sanctioned vessel carrying Russian oil, made the exact same journey. The Sierra and Marathon are part of what has become known as Russia's shadow fleet and are just two of an increasing number of vessels which have been engaging in suspicious and sometimes bizarre behaviour around Irish waters in recent months. This has raised both environmental and national security concerns among Irish officials, especially given Ireland's extremely limited ability to monitor such vessels. An Irish Times investigation has identified 19 shadow fleet vessels sailing in, or just outside, the Irish EEZ since May. Five of these ships appeared more than once. All are subject to US or UK sanctions, while 11 are subject to EU sanctions. [ New €60m sonar system aims to protect transatlantic cables, gas pipelines in Irish waters Opens in new window ] The most recent sailing occurred on Saturday when the Matari, a crude oil tanker flagged in Sierra Leone, sailed north through the EEZ on its way to the Gulf of Kola in the Russian Arctic. There are various definitions of a shadow fleet vessel, but most involve a ship engaging in deceptive practices to transport sanctioned oil or other cargos. In the majority of cases, these ships fly the flag of a small country with a poor reputation for maritime regulations. Sometimes, as is the case with the Sierra which claims it is flagged in the landlocked African nation of Malawi, the registration is fraudulent (it previously flew the flags of Sao Tome and Principe, Liberia, Gabon and Barbados). The tally of 19 ships observed around Ireland recently is likely an undercount. The vessels were tracked using tools from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, a New Zealand-based marine software firm, and open source marine tracking platforms. Their location was based on the signals from their automatic identification systems (AIS). A defining feature of shadow vessels is that they often sail with AIS turned off, which makes them all but impossible to track. The figure of 19 shadow fleet vessels does not include the Shtandart, a replica of a historic Russian navy ship, which visited a Co Louth port earlier this month despite being under EU sanctions. [ State needs to invest in Navy and Air Corps to beef up our ability to protect vital undersea connections Opens in new window ] Many of the recent incidents in Irish waters involved ships engaging in unusual and economically inefficient practices, including sailing outside of recognised shipping lanes and taking the long way around Ireland on the way to the Baltic Sea. 'Vessels don't take longer routes, especially those that include the North Atlantic, unless there's a reason,' said Mark Douglas, a maritime domain analyst with Starboard Maritime Intelligence and a former New Zealand Royal Navy officer. 'The important thing about all of this is, I don't know why this is happening and no one else does either,' he said. One possible explanation for the growing number of sanctioned ships sailing up the Irish west coast is increased monitoring of traffic in the English Channel by UK authorities. UK officials are now challenging by radio an average of 40 shadow vessels every month off the British coast as part of a joint campaign with a group of EU countries to tackle Russian sanction busting. Christian Panton, an expert in maritime open source intelligence, said European countries are increasingly concerned about the presence of unflagged or fraudulently flagged vessels in their waters. The Russian oil tanker Sierra. Photograph: Marinetraffic/Hannes van Rijn The Shtandart, a replica of a historic Russian navy ship, in Dublin. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw He pointed to a recent joint communication from the NB8++, a group of 12 northern European countries, stating that 'if vessels fail to fly a valid flag in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, we will take appropriate action within international law'. Ireland is not a member of this group, meaning vessels may feel more comfortable sailing off its west coast than going through the English Channel. Evidence suggests shadow fleet ships may also be attempting to avoid areas which impose specific environmental conditions on oil tankers. Since 2005, the Western European Tanker Reporting System (Wetrep) has required oil tankers to provide details of their crews, cargo and seaworthiness when sailing through a designated area. Ireland is a member of Wetrep and much of its EEZ is classified as a designated reporting area. Several of the shadow vessel ships tracked through the EEZ in recent weeks appeared to be just skirting the Wetrep area, meaning they did not have to provide details on their operations to authorities. The increased presence of the shadow fleet off Ireland has raised concern among national security officials. During one recent voyage through the English Channel, the Sierra was escorted by a Russian warship which had disguised itself as a fishing vessel. [ Ireland cannot protect its waters alone, UN expert says Opens in new window ] There is concern Russia intends to start regularly providing military escorts for shadow vessels to deter western intervention. This raises the chances of military escalation. Secondly, there is concern about the activity of shadow fleet vessels around Irish undersea cables. In a small number of cases, vessels have been observed by the Irish Air Corps or Naval Service loitering in the areas of these cables. Last March, the Arne, a shadow fleet tanker previously boarded by German federal police over suspicions of sabotage, was spotted by the Naval Service near undersea cables off Cork. The main risks to undersea infrastructure may come not from deliberate action but from the poor condition of shadow fleet vessels. Douglas points out accidents account for 90 per cent of incidents of damage to undersea cables globally. Many shadow fleet vessels are in poor condition and are crewed by inexperienced sailors. The countries they are flagged in take little interest in enforcing safety standards or crew working conditions. All of this raises the danger of an anchor being accidentally dropped and dredged across some cables, said Douglas. The biggest concern for Irish officials is that the poor condition of these ships could result in an ecological disaster. Eleven of the 19 ships identified in recent weeks were carrying full loads of crude oil when sailing off Ireland. The clean-up costs for an oil spill from a single shadow fleet tanker could be nearly €750 million, according to recent estimates from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Such an incident would be devastating to Irish waters, even if the ship was sailing just outside the EEZ, as was the case with the Sierra and Marathon. 'That is the thing would keep me up at night, more than anything with cables,' said an Irish maritime official. 'There are redundancies built into the cable system. There's no redundancy for an oil spill.' It is not an entirely hypothetical scenario. In January, the sanctioned tanker Eventin lost control while at anchor off Germany. The Blue, a sanctioned oil tanker heading for the Baltic, took an unusual route around Ireland. Photograph: Marinetraffic/Hans Rosenkranz Last week, the Pushpa, a shadow fleet oil tanker, reported losing control about 50 nautical miles off Malta. 'Imagine that on Ireland's Atlantic coast,' said Douglas. The right of Ireland to do anything about these ships is up for debate. Maritime law is ambiguous about the rights of countries to board or seize shadow fleet vessels. In April, the Estonian Naval Service boarded an unflagged shadow fleet vessel off its coast, but no other country has taking similar action. Ireland largely lacks the ability to conduct such operations, but some action is being taken. The Defence Forces and Coast Guard monitor many of these vessels as they pass through. The newly acquired Airbus C295 maritime patrol aircraft, which has extended range and more advanced sensors than its predecessors, has proven invaluable. Just last Friday, an Air Corps C295 set a course for the Mayo coast where it monitored the Blue, a sanctioned oil tanker heading for the Baltic and taking an unusual route around Ireland. It is understood the Defence Forces received prior intelligence about the ship, which has since left Irish waters. Earlier in the week, it intercepted the Belgorod, another sanctioned tanker sailing north through the EEZ. A Defence Forces spokesman declined to comment on the operations but said it 'maintains a continuous presence and vigilance within Ireland's maritime domain. 'We monitor all activity within our Exclusive Economic Zone as part of our routine operations to ensure the security and integrity of our waters.' The Department of Transport, which regulates maritime traffic, said the Irish Coast Guard 'has instituted specific measures to monitor the presence of these vessels and passage through and out of Irish EEZ'. It said the Coast Guard is specifically concerned about the increased possibility of maritime casualty incidents 'from such vessels'. A spokesman also pointed to several measures being taken to crack down on shadow fleet vessels operating without maritime insurance. Ireland is taking part in a one-month 'focused inspection campaign' to check the insurance documents of oil tankers calling to ports. It has also signed up to a new EU system to monitor shadow fleet vessels. Nevertheless, recent events suggest shadow fleet traffic is only likely to increase. Last week, the EU agreed an additional sanctions package for Russia which will further limit the legitimate market for its oil exports and increase Moscow's reliance on its shadow fleet.
The National
2 days ago
- Business
- The National
EU's wave of Russia sanctions three years later doesn't signal urgency
If the Russia -Ukraine War was the First World War, then by now we would be past the Russian Revolution about three years in. If it were the Second World War, the Germans would be about to surrender at Stalingrad. But in our present, with fighting largely deadlocked, Europe has just begun a cautious offensive on the economic front. The latest package of sanctions adopted on Friday takes aim at Russia's energy earnings. The mostly ineffective cap on the price of Russian oil exports using EU ships or services will now be set at 15 per cent below market prices, instead of $60 per barrel as previously, meaning $47.6 per barrel initially, which will be revised several times per year. Czechia's exemption from the EU ban on Russian oil imports has ended, closing one small remaining spigot. Further ships in Russia's 'shadow fleet' and traders working with Russian oil have been added to the sanctions list, as has 'one entity in the Russian LNG [liquefied natural gas] sector'. And transactions with the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea by any EU operator are banned. Perhaps most materially, the EU has also banned the import of refined petroleum products made from Russian crude in third countries, mostly affecting India and Turkey, but potentially GCC countries, too. Indian fuel exports to the EU doubled in 2023 to 200,000 barrels a day, and have remained elevated since. The latest European sanctions have already markedly tightened the diesel market. Indian refiner Nayara, owned 49.13 per cent by Russia's state Rosneft, is hit with sanctions. Previous European sanctions have been notably leaky. The Russian war juggernaut has been slowed but not derailed. Brussels still seems lackadaisical about the urgency of the situation, as missiles and drones pound Ukrainian cities, and thousands of North Korean troops appear on the battlefield. Europe's own bloody colonial history should tell it the fate of those who allow foreign military adventurers to interfere in their domestic affairs. Is it enough? Putting sanctions only now on a pipeline that was mostly blown up in September 2022 may not be the height of courage. More aggressive measures have been hamstrung until now by opposition from some EU members, who are either politically friendly to Russia, or who claim that special circumstances should entitle them to exemptions. Sanctioned goods, including military components, continue to flood into Russia through backdoors in Central Asian states and through China. The oil price cap has been largely ineffective because it is hard to monitor, and because Greek and other European shipowners have been happy to sell old vessels into the shadow fleet. The most effective sanctions on Russian energy were imposed by Moscow itself, and by the still mysterious bombers of the Nord Stream pipeline. Russia started cutting down on gas exports to the EU from September 2021, well before launching its invasion, then imposed payment conditions that most of its buyers rejected. The EU did at least move in March to ban the trans-shipment of Russian LNG through European ports. This was an inconvenience, as Russia's Arctic LNG terminals typically use expensive ice-class tankers, then transfer their cargoes to standard vessels in warmer waters. In May, the European Commission presented a roadmap to phase out remaining imports of Russian LNG and gas by pipeline. In 2024, Russia sold about 21 billion cubic metres of LNG and 27 BCM of gas by pipeline to the EU, still almost a fifth of the bloc's total. The pipeline gas would anyway fall this year, since transit by Ukraine, having remarkably continued through the war, was finally cut off at the end of last year. The LNG will be diverted to other markets, primarily in Asia, but the pipeline gas has no other outlet. Russia currently earns roughly $230 billion per year from its exports of oil, gas and coal. This has already fallen from around $400 billion during the invasion year of 2022. The new measures on gas would cut its revenues by some $5 billion annually. Effective wielding of the new, lower price cap on oil might chop off $30 billion or so over the course of a year. Enforcement will be crucial, as Russia, like Iran, continues to juggle the shadow fleet, and traders find way to obfuscate oil's origins. Higher costs for tankers and transactions add a few more billion. But this is nibbling at the edges, not biting into the jugular vein. The wildcard is the US. President Donald Trump's erratic moves on the conflict and his threats of the puzzling 'secondary tariffs' on countries buying Russian oil are hard to analyse. New, much more aggressive sanctions proposed in Congress would target Russia's trade partners, but they have been paused during a 50-day hiatus announced by Mr Trump. It is not clear if the US will join enforcement of the new oil price cap, which will be crucial in its effectiveness. Where Russia stands Still, the Russian economy is under strain. Budget revenues have been revised down this year because of lower global energy prices. The national wealth fund could be depleted by next year, as the government withdraws from it to cover the deficit. The economy contracted in the first quarter, despite the huge spending on military production, even official figures admit of inflation being about 10 per cent, and central bank interest rates are at 20 per cent. The future of the war effort depends crucially on the direction of oil prices, and how far Opec+ is able to keep raising output without seriously denting the market. By October, Russia's allowable crude production will not be far short of its previous historic high in 2022. It will become apparent how sustainable this level is. Oil prices have shrugged off the impact of the Israel-Iran war. They were not excited either by the news of the latest sanctions. As for gas, the expected increasing oversupply from next year onwards may stiffen sinews in European capitals to get off Russian supplies entirely. It does not seem likely that this war will end like the Eastern Front in the First World War, with bread riots in Petrograd, nor like the Second World War, with crushing battlefield defeats accompanying economic collapse. But sanctions are putting ever more sand in the gears of a war machine already strained to its limits. The hope in Kyiv must be that the pressure on their weary soldiers and civilians eases, and a combination of military and financial pressure opens a path to genuine peace.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU approves new Russia sanctions with lower oil price cap
BRUSSELS, July 18 (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday agreed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including measures aimed at dealing further blows to the Russian oil and energy industry. The package aims to lower the G7's price cap for buying Russian crude oil to $47.6 per barrel, diplomats told Reuters. "The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X. "We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow." Yet Russia has so far managed to sell most of its oil above the previous price cap as the current mechanism makes it unclear who must police its implementation, and traders doubt the new EU sanctions will significantly disrupt Russian oil trade. The package also has a ban on transactions related to Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea and on Russia's financial sector. Kallas said the sanctions also targeted 105 ships in Russia's "shadow fleet", the term used by Western officials for ships that Moscow uses to circumvent oil sanctions, and "Chinese banks that enable sanctions evasion". She did not name the banks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the decision "essential and timely" as Russia intensifies its air war on Ukrainian cities and villages. And Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said: "Depriving Russia of its oil revenues is critical for putting an end to its aggression." The Group of Seven Western economic powers have tried to impose a price cap on purchases of Russian oil price since December 2022. It aims to ban trade in Russian crude bought at a higher price by prohibiting shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling tankers carrying such crude. The European Union and Britain have been pushing to lower the cap for the last two months after a fall in oil futures made the current level of $60 a barrel largely irrelevant. But the United States has resisted, leaving the EU to move forward on its own, but without real power to enforce the measure, analysts and oil traders say. As the dollar dominates global oil transactions, and U.S. financial institutions play the central role in clearing payments, the EU has no means to block trades by denying access to dollar clearing. Agreement on the new EU package was held up for weeks as Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico demanded concessions on a separate plan to phase out EU dependence on Russian oil and gas. Fico announced on Thursday night that he was ending his opposition. Countries such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta had expressed concerns about the effect of the oil price cap on their shipping industries. But Malta, the last of the trio to hold out, also came on board on Thursday.
