The best weapon of the West is not a cannon, but an auger
The Russian attack on Ukraine revealed the great fragility of the West, especially of Western Europe, vis-à-vis Russia: energy dependence. Those who read Scenari have already had the opportunity to learn about this point through countless articles, but I am sending you a single image that explains everything.
We have explained who was the main responsible, in collaboration with the secondary ones from different countries, but it is not time to complain. We must look ahead.
The delusion that renewable energies can replace fossils in the space of a year or two is, in fact, an illusion, indeed madness. The crisis we are already experiencing is precisely linked to this dream pursued, without lucidity, by Brussels, and which is impoverishing all European families, and causing thousands of companies to close. Nuclear power can help, but with a long lead time. Assuming that there was a political agreement, an atomic power plant, even a modular one, requires medium-long times to be built. So in the short or very short there is no alternative but the fossil.
Draghi in his speech spoke of the reopening of the Italian coal plants. Probably, indeed certainly, Germany will have to do the same. Greta will step on her toes, well she can go step on them in the Kremlin and see the effect it does, but that's not enough. Currently 4.9% of Italian energy comes from coal, even doubling it does not replace gas generation. The only alternative to gas is gas, but not Russian.
The greatest weapon against Russia is a drill. A fast drill, like those used by Texas companies for the extraction of shale gas. Let's take an example: This Shale Gas company from Texas takes 16 weeks to put a well of natural gas from shale into production:
- pre drilling 3 weeks;
- drilling (excavation) maximum 7 weeks
- post drilling activity one week
- fractuoring one week
- post fracturing drilling one week
- flowing, (liquid filling) three weeks
- production
It's been four months. Europe has areas suitable for the use of these technologies
If you don't see Italy it is simply because there is no prospecting on the subject. However, the diffusion is wide and in areas with a population density that is not particularly large. , especially in the east. Then there are the offshore fields
There are relatively few areas in offshore development in the Mediterranean.
If you truly believe in "Ecological Transition" and this was not just some dirty trick by some politician to serve Russian, Arab or American oil and gas, then this is the solution for a safe energy transition. It is not forever, but, let's suppose, for about fifteen years, the time to find something better.
To exploit these resources it takes.
- investments, and this is simple, given the current profitability of oil & gas;
- technologies, and these are widely available;
- political will with simplification, even cancellation, of the various authorization procedures, at least for the next 24-36 months.
Here is the third point is the real problem, because our politics in words attacks Putin, but, when it comes to doing something practical, especially in Brussels or Berlin, it serves its own ideological preconceptions, its own "Bunker" of non-ideas. flexible and that do not face the reality of the facts. That is why we are now crashing into a wall that will crush our industry and squeeze our pockets.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles of Economic Scenarios.
The article The best weapon of the West is not a cannon, but an auger comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-miglior-arma-delloccidente-non-e-un-cannone-ma-una-trivella/ on Sat, 26 Feb 2022 09:00:07 +0000.