this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2022
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Oil is their primary export. Having to sell it at deep discount is not going to dig them out of the enormous trade imbalance that the sanctions have created. They need better prices for oil at this time, not worse.
Oil accounts for a small portion of the overall Russian economy, and Russia isn't in any way dependent on its oil exports to function. Here are a couple of charts to help you understand the reality of Russian economy:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/271373/distribution-of-the-workforce-across-economic-sectors-in-russia/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1235291/legal-entity-revenue-by-industry-in-russia/
On the other hand, Europe depends on Russia for 41% of gas, 47% of solid fuel, and 27% of oil. Given there aren't any real alternatives to this, Europe will have no choice but to start buying Russian energy exports in the long run.
And of course, it's important to note that rouble trading low internationally means that sales in euros even at low prices translate to bigger domestic profits for the government.
It's their top export:
https://oec.world/en/profile/country/rus/
To think that they are not dependent on trade is absurd. No country is self-sufficient. Even if Russia becomes a rogue state like North Korea, cut off from all other nations.
Russian aggression is an opportunity for Europe to free itself from carbon dependence. More likely, however, is that American gas will sweep in and fill the vacuum. In any case, Europe is best served not relying on an energy partner that waves nuclear threats around like a grumpy toddler that doesn't get it's way.
Liquid gas supplied by USA need lots of vessels to transport but, worse, lots of gas process plants on the Europe docks. And only Spain has a significant number of them. I don't know, and it could be interesting, how much liquid gas can be processed right now. Or even how much gas can be moved with the existent vessels. Updated data could be appreciated :-p
The blocks (west/east) game is a silly game in the just started scarcity era. The probable end will be a nuclear war.
My hope would be that it becomes economic to invest in green energy instead.