It’s Gonna Get Cold in Europe Now That Gazprom Halts Gas Shipments to Europe via Critical Pipeline as Energy Prices Soar, Leading to Rationing, Blackouts, and Other Measures That Will Make the 1970s Oil Crisis in the US Look Like Child’s Play

HNewsWire-To avoid blackouts and other measures that would make the 1970s oil crisis in the US seem like child's play for Europe, Gazprom has halted gas shipments to Europe through a critical pipeline as energy prices skyrocket.

Gas giant Gazprom has suspended all exports to Europe through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, a vital conduit to European energy supply, after Europe received the most Russian gas in months yesterday as Vladimir Putin's deadline to either pay for gas in rubles (or be cut off) came and passed.

Rather of heading toward Germany and the European Union, gas supplies began moving in the other way on Friday and Saturday, according to Gascade, the network operator.

The EU has already increased its imports of LNG from the United States in recent months.

Researchers at Goldman Sachs have previously found that US exports of LNG are now at capacity despite President Biden's vow to expand exports to the EU (although he noted that not all of this new capacity would come from the US).

Another issue for Europe's pipeline-dependent economy is that the continent currently lacks the capacity to swiftly scale up LNG imports, which must first be processed and "regasified" before being transported to utilities and other energy distributors..

The map below shows how much each European economy relies on Russia.

Germans aren't alone in feeling the effects of Russia's decision to cut off gas supply. Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's press secretary, warned that British oil giant Shell is being cut off from Russian supplies as a result of the UK's economic sanctions on Russia.

"London aspires to be the undisputed leader in the anti-Russian movement. There is even a desire for it to outpace Washington! What a deal it is!" Peskov laid forth the points.

Russia's Gazprombank, through which payments for Russian natural gas are processed, has so far only been sanctioned by the UK. The policy basically prohibits the British capacity to pay for the commodity and has pushed Gazprom to walk away from the sales and trading arm of the Russian company.. According to Vladimir Putin's edict, Gazprom has set up foreign currency accounts for clients so that their currencies may be exchanged into rubles at the Moscow exchange..

The European states have a tough option now that Putin is ratcheting up the pressure: either they can play along and show to the rest of the world that their attempts to wean themselves off of Russian energy have been mostly ineffective, or they can resist. "Catastrophic" economic collapse is possible if energy costs rise, leading to rationing and blackouts and other measures that would make the 1970s oil crisis in the United States seem like child's play.