Barbie Latza Nadeau - 11 July 2022, 9:23 pm. (The Daily...

Barbie Latza Nadeau - 11 July 2022, 9:23 pm. (The Daily Beast).

Here’s How Putin Is Squeezing Europe by the Balls.

"The spigot on Europe’s largest gas pipeline funneling Russian gas into the bloc closed at 6 a.m. Monday for a ten-day maintenance, and almost no one believes it will be turned back on as scheduled.

Russia’s Gazprom also suddenly reduced gas flow by a third into Italy on Monday, citing unplanned repair work, which means one of the backup pipelines for Nord Stream’s scheduled maintenance is also drying up.

The summer gas flows are largely used to fill reservoirs for the winter months, which were depleted after Russia reduced exports when the war in Ukraine broke out. Russia also cut off Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands entirely after those countries refused to pay for the gas in rubles.

Energy experts across Europe have warned for weeks that sanctions give the Kremlin incentive to further weaponize Europe’s unbalanced dependence on Russian fuel. The bloc’s largest importers Germany and Italy have launched plans to reduce their dependence on Russian gas, but neither country can effectively do so before 2023."

Little wonder PVE is starting to receive some interest from investors.