russian energy week....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a stark warning to the West, emphasizing the potential use of nuclear weapons if tensions continue to escalate. As NATO increases its military presence near Russia's borders, Putin’s latest statements highlight the growing risk of a nuclear confrontation. In this video, we break down Putin's bold message, the response from Western leaders, and what this means for global security. Will the West heed the warning, or is the world inching closer to a nuclear standoff?

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

This year, the 7th edition of REW, themed Energy Cooperation in a Multipolar World, brought together over 4,000 participants from more than 50 countries.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, colleagues,

I am delighted to welcome you all to Moscow, to the 7th Russian Energy Week.

This forum has long become a permanent fixture in the business schedule of the global energy sector, once again bringing together the heads of leading companies and industry organisations, government officials, prominent specialists, experts, and journalists.

This year, more than 4,000 participants from over 50 countries will be discussing the most important issues on the energy agenda, and the challenges that both producers and consumers of energy resources are facing around the world.

In addition, this forum is an excellent opportunity to establish new contacts, make deals and exchange views on the long-term prospects of the fuel and energy sector.

Modern energy is one of the key sectors enabling global development. Its smooth operation based on transparent and predictable rules, when deposits are developed and resources are extracted, processed and supplied to the market without interruption, creates a solid foundation for economic growth, social progress, and improvement of the people’s living standards.

Unfortunately, this truism is being increasingly disregarded by those who resort to illegal sanctions, believing that such tactics can give them benefits and advantage in the energy market.

What are we talking about here? Historically, the main elements of the supply infrastructure of the global energy market happened to be consolidated in the West. I am referring to innovative mining solutions, logistics, insurance of resource supply, and the system of payments for these operations. Taken together, this constitutes a global energy platform on a par with technologies.

The Western elites believed that they could close access to these services for the countries they regard as inappropriate politically, thereby pushing them to the curb of progress, or more precisely, squeezing them out of the market. I believe that many would agree with me that all these instruments are being used above all for unfair competition.

The reason for this is obvious: the West does not want competition because it cannot handle it, because it loses the competition if it plays fair, which is why it resorts to discrimination presenting it as so-called Euro-Atlantic solidarity, the protection of human rights, and the like. There are many other pretexts.

What does this lead do? By closing access to its platform, the West has only encouraged the development of alternative solutions, alternative logistics, insurance and international settlement systems, as well as technological innovations. Of course, it is not a simple process, and it involves hard work by those involved, but the process is going on progressively.

I would like to emphasise that these solutions are mostly immune to external influence. And since they are being gradually shaped on a fundamentally new technological basis, they are becoming more effective by the day and, which is even more important, more widespread, first of all in the countries that are gathering momentum and demonstrating a high economic development pace.

I have said many times that the modern world has entered an era of fundamental and irreversible changes. A multipolar development model is emerging, starting a new wave of global growth for the rest of the 21st century. And this growth will be concentrated not in Europe or North America. Of course, the European and the US economies rely on a very solid and powerful foundation, and of course, they will keep running, and it will be quite a while before they run out of steam completely. That said, Europe and North America will no longer operate as the main growth drivers. They are gradually losing their weight in the global economy. This growth will shift to BRICS countries and the states that are willing to join our association and view equal cooperation with due respect for national interests as the promising way to proceed.

I have already said this before but let me repeat it for this audience one more time. These are objective, international data. In 1992, the G7 accounted for 45 percent of global GDP, while BRICS had just 22 percent. As of the end of 2023, the G7’s share declined to 30 percent, while BRICS increased its share to 36 percent. And this trend is gaining traction.

Let me note right away that, according to international experts, several BRICS countries, including the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will enjoy positive, albeit quite modest, economic trends. Once again, this is what experts have been saying, including international experts. At the same time, the countries of what we call the Global South will lead the pack in terms of – I would like to stress it − economic growth rates. For now, their per capita GDP is quite low, and so is the share of people living in cities, but they have a high birth rate. This group primarily includes countries in South and Southeast Asia, as well as Africa, including Equatorial Guinea, whose President, His Excellency Teodoro Obiang [Nguema Mbasogo] is taking part in this plenary session. I would like to ask you to greet him. (Applause.)

To reiterate, BRICS – and Russia is chairing this organisation this year – sees its mission as combining economic capacities and creating a broad space of opportunities for everyone who is interested in harmonious and mutually beneficial cooperation. I would like to emphasise that it is mutually beneficial, that is, cooperation that benefits the interests of all our nations.

We intend to build an effective development platform for countries that are promising growth centres now or will become ones – a platform free from malign outside influence, with unimpeded access to resources, technology, personnel, finance, trade and investment. In particular, I am referring to the energy sector, which, as I said, is crucial for economic growth and social progress.

Russia, despite the challenges it is facing – everyone knows what they are, and in fact, everyone is facing challenges, so we have our own, too, and they are serious enough – nevertheless, Russia remains one of the leading participants in the global energy market. Over the past two and a half years, Russian companies have successfully redirected their exports of oil, petroleum products, and coal. Previously, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for about 39 percent of our energy exports, but by the end of last year, its share exceeded 60 percent.

In general, friendly countries account for over 90 percent of Russia’s energy exports today. At the same time, in physical terms, with the exception of natural gas (it is also clear to experts why), they have practically remained at the 2021 level.

Russia is expanding the geography and scale of its energy cooperation. New routes are being created to connect to fast-growing receptive markets, including the countries of the EAEU, the CIS, and southern Eurasia. Gas exports through the Power of Siberia pipeline are increasing, and LNG exports continue to grow.

In fact, LNG from the Russian Arctic has become one of the anchors, the main type of cargo shipped via the Northern Sea Route. We will definitely continue to develop our own LNG services and technologies, create centres for its transhipment, storage and trade. We will ensure enough tankers for our LNG projects; we will definitely augment the capacity of our Arctic and Eastern seaports, improve communications and enhance the Northern Sea Route infrastructure.

My Russian colleagues know what I am talking about – how they are being roadblocked in what they do. Indeed, this partially hinders the implementation of our plans, but they will be implemented, nonetheless.

In general, we are expanding international transport corridors. Freight traffic on these routes is scheduled to increase by at least 50 percent by 2030 compared to 2021.

In particular, we are further developing the Eastern Operating Domain. The throughput capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is nearly 180 million tonnes this year, will grow to 270 million tonnes in ten years, which will allow us to transport large volumes of fuel and energy products and refined products from our regions in Siberia to markets of the Global South.

Financial infrastructure, or more precisely, the system of payments for Russian exports, is a separate matter. There are certain difficulties here. To resolve that problem, we are switching to settlements in national currencies, which is of great interest to our partners. There are many problems in this sphere as well, which we are aware of, but we are gradually settling them. For example, the share of the ruble in our foreign trade transactions is approaching 40 percent. Between 2021 and 2023, the share of the ruble in export payments has grown nearly threefold to 39 percent, and the figure reached 39.4 percent in the first six months of 2024.

At the same time, as part of our cooperation with BRICS countries, we are involved in the creation of our own payment configuration that will provide conditions for servicing all foreign trade efficiently and independently.

I would like to add that Russian energy exports help friendly countries restrain the growth of import prices, maintain their energy security and economic stability, as well as compete more successfully in the global market.

We are resolved to continue to move forward, and we will not limit cooperation to trade in resources. Russia is ready to help strengthen the technological sovereignty of its partners in the energy sphere by creating comprehensive scientific and production chains. This is what we are doing in terms of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Rosatom is building nuclear power plants abroad and simultaneously training local personnel – engineers, workers and managers for the new facilities. In fact, we not only build power plants but, as Rosatom says, create new power generation and economic sectors for our partners.

I am confident that this combination of intellectual and resource potentials of different countries and our advance to new levels of international cooperation will create additional opportunities for the national school of research and for developing engineering, services and, of course, the entire energy sector in Russia.

Colleagues,

Last year’s energy consumption in Russia again set a new record that exceeds the Soviet-era indicators. You are well aware that growing energy consumption is the most unmistakable sign of economic growth.

At the same time, our energy system, one of the world’s largest, not only meets the growing demand from businesses, the economy, and the social sphere, but also is in the process of qualitative transformation. Over the past 15 years, the total capacity of the Russian power industry has increased by 18 percent, while the power plants themselves have undergone an in-depth overhaul, becoming more advanced, effective, and environment-friendly.

For example, natural gas, an ecologically clean and effective hydrocarbon, accounts for 48 percent of Russia’s energy balance and for over 85 percent, if we throw in the nuclear and hydraulic power industries that have a minimal carbon footprint.

What I mean is that our energy balance is one of the “greenest” in the world; this is an absolutely obvious fact. Unlike certain Western countries that use the climatic agenda to promote their essentially neo-colonialist interests, we are implementing a fair and orderly energy transition in practice, a transition that takes into account our natural conditions, the socioeconomic development of our cities and the entire national territory, as well as the structure of this country’s energy and fuel balance.

We will continue to follow this approach in the future. We will continue to upgrade and strengthen our energy system, which has entered upon a stage of retooling and conversion to new technological solutions.

Among other things, we are creating a substantial scientific and practical potential in a number of promising areas, such as renewable energy sources, small nuclear power plants, thermonuclear fusion, as well as hydrogen generation and production of motor vehicles, ships, and rail transport burning this kind of fuel.

True, research and technologies are at different stages of implementation in this regard. But to reiterate: it is important to be aware of this outlook and make plans for the future.

As you know, I have instructed the Government to extend the planning horizon for Russia’s energy strategy until the middle of this century. This strategy sets forth an ambitious and comprehensive plan to expand our generating capacity at a national scale. All these undertakings imply long cycles, and we must be forward-looking when working on them, and this is exactly the way we have been treating them.

Major, system-wide projects with long investment cycles will define these efforts, including, as I have already said, projects to master new technology, develop deposits and build the necessary infrastructure, power stations and grids.

I would like to remind my colleagues in the Government that we will need to draft a revised Energy Strategy in the coming months, and then carry it out, one step at a time, by focusing on our priority long-term objectives to develop Russia’s fuel and energy complex. As far as I know, the Government is currently in the process of coordinating these parameters among the agencies.

I talked at length about these priorities a year ago, during the previous Energy Week. Let me remind you that our key priority is to satisfy demand on the domestic market and to ensure stable and affordable power supplies to our regions, cities and companies. Let me put a special emphasis on the fact that the fuel and energy sector must play its role in ensuring that all the 2030 national development goals are fulfilled.

According to the available estimates, power consumption will grow at an [annual] rate of two percent until the end of this decade, which is about the same level as for the rest of the world. During this period, we intend to launch 27 gigawatts of new power generating capacity, including thermal, hydro and nuclear power plants.

We will promote connectivity between the power grids in the Urals, Siberia and the country’s east, while paying special attention to supplying power to Russia’s Far East. Power consumption there has been growing at a rate exceeding the national average, and it is expected to increase even more as manufacturing expands and as new housing, infrastructure and social facilities are built. Our energy sector must be able to meet this demand, including by using modern coal power generation, with low environmental stress.

I have already issued instructions to draft a long-term development programme for the Far Eastern Federal District’s energy sector. Just like the national Energy Strategy, it will cover a period until 2050. I would like to ask the Government to fast-track the approval procedures for this document.

Increasing the reliability of power supply to the regions is a separate matter. This year, we have applied a fundamentally new approach: we have introduced territorial grid organisations. Starting in 2025, these organisations will operate in each region of the country and will be responsible for power supply. They will also take over abandoned facilities (unfortunately, there are some) and address the consequences of accidents on networks, among other responsibilities.

I would like to ask the Government, together with the heads of the Russian regions and energy companies, to analyse the effectiveness of territorial grid organisations on a regular basis and to draw up a plan for increasing the reliability of power supply for each region, with transparent financing sources developed in advance. All tools must be used, from regulatory agreements and infrastructure loans to concession mechanisms and service contracts.

I would also like to mention the gas industry, which is undergoing serious changes. It is not only reorienting exports from the west to the east but also significantly increasing supply to the domestic market, including under the social gas supply programme launched in 2021, which is progressing at a good pace. I would like to thank the Gazprom management for this. Of course, our largest gas company, Gazprom, plays a leading role in this.

I would like to ask the company and its management, together with the Government, to prepare a ten-year plan, the implementation of which will ensure the corporation’s sustainable development and the creation of infrastructure necessary to change the geography of supplies. Let me reiterate, it must take into account our extensive plans to supply gas to all Russian regions and increase gas processing within the country.

We all understand what I am referring to when I discuss redistribution of routes. Those who were once our buyers have decided to give up our relatively inexpensive energy resources and switch to a more costly alternative. Well, that is their choice; let them rely on this expensive resource.

Next, the growth of hydrocarbon processing volumes at Russian plants and complexes is another priority task for the domestic fuel and energy complex. It is crucial to provide a raw material base and the necessary resource extraction. We have already identified special tax incentives for this.

Thanks to state support measures, offshore fields, such as Prirazlomnoye in the Arctic and projects on Sakhalin, are being developed. Hard-to-recover reserves are being developed: the Palyanovskoye oil field in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area and the Yuzhno-Neprikovskoye field in the Samara Region. New oil and gas provinces are being introduced in Eastern Siberia and the Arctic. I mean large projects, like Vostok Oil in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and the Utrenneye and Shtormovoye fields on the Gydan Peninsula. The coal mining centre in the Far East is expanding its capacity. The Pacific Railway will also start operating next year. It is a private railway going from the Elga field in Yakutia to the port of Elga in the Khabarovsk Territory.

Let me repeat, it is essential that the exploration of Russia’s unique reserves makes it possible to develop domestic processing enterprises, creating maximum added value right here, in Russia.

We have launched a state programme to upgrade oil refineries. Its goal is to provide the economy, cities, all populated areas and people with high-quality fuel, lubricants, bitumen, and other products. I would like to ask the Government to closely monitor how this programme is implemented and to work specifically on every enterprise, on the timing of repairs, and renovation of production.

Special focus must be placed on the development of oil, gas, and coal chemistry. According to estimates, the demand for these products will only grow both in Russia and around the world. Moreover, these sectors are highly profitable. The price from raw materials to final goods in the chains can grow up to 12 times.

Russia implements projects in this sphere, which are large even by global standards. The country’s largest petrochemical plant, ZapSibNeftekhim, is operating, and the Amur Gas Chemical Complex, which will become the most powerful Russian enterprise for the production of basic polymers, is being built. There are other large projects as well. It is important that there be more such projects, that new production facilities are opened in various regions and modern, well-paid jobs are created. I have already drawn the Government’s attention to this and would like to repeat it again: these business initiatives must be supported.

Furthermore, it is clear that, under current conditions, the reliable operation of production fields, pipelines, refining facilities, and power plants, as well as the fuel and energy complex in general, is dependent on the availability of our own specialists, technologies, and competencies in the equipment used for producing and delivering resources, power engineering, and so on.

A national project to be launched next year will serve as a major system-wide instrument of support for domestic initiatives. It is called New Nuclear and Energy Technologies. This national project will set ambitious goals, namely, to consolidate Russia’s global leadership in the nuclear sector. It aims to consolidate that leadership, as our current standing is indeed global. This is evident from the volume of work that Rosatom, our leading company, is doing.

Ensuring the country’s technological sovereignty across all spheres of the fuel and energy complex is the goal of this new national project. I ask my colleagues in the Government, together with our business and academic communities, to elaborate all the details of this national project with a view to launching it without delay.

Colleagues,

Russia’s fuel and energy complex is a modern, dynamic industry. It successfully meets current, including global, challenges and strengthens the raw materials, technological, and industrial sovereignty of our country; it supports and develops trade and cooperative ties with responsible foreign partners.

Russia is fulfilling its obligations to supply energy resources to the world market and plays a stabilising role within it, participating in such authoritative formats as OPEC Plus and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. Incidentally, we cooperate with the country represented by our guest in both organisations, and we will certainly continue this collaboration with our partners.

I am confident that the strategic and long-term tasks facing our energy industry will undoubtedly be accomplished. This means that our energy companies, their workforce, and the industry as a whole will be provided with stable and reliable work for many years to come. They will make a significant and tangible contribution to achieving Russia’s national development goals and improving the quality of life for our citizens. And, of course, they will continue to contribute to balancing the world energy markets for the sake of sustainable global development.

Thank you.

Full transcript of Russian President Vladimir Putin's [first] address on "Global Energy in a Multipolar World" to the Russian Energy Week Forum.

Good afternoon, friends, ladies and gentlemen!

I welcome the participants and guests of the Russian Energy Week, a recognized, authoritative platform for dialogue on key topics of global energy.

Such direct, open communication is especially necessary now, when the world economy as a whole, the fuel and energy complex are going through, frankly, an acute crisis associated with unstable price dynamics of energy resources, an imbalance in supply and demand, as well as openly subversive actions of individual market participants who are guided solely by their own geopolitical ambitions, they resort to outright discrimination in the market, and if it doesn’t work out, they simply destroy the infrastructure of competitors.

In this case, I mean, of course, the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. There is no doubt that this is an act of international terrorism, the purpose of which is to undermine the energy security of the entire continent. The logic is cynical - to destroy, block sources of cheap energy, deprive millions of people, industrial consumers of gas, heat, electricity, and other resources and force them to buy all this at much higher prices. Force.

The attack on Nord Stream has become a most dangerous precedent. It shows that now any critical object of transport, energy or communication infrastructure is under threat, regardless of what part of the world it is located, by whom it is controlled, laid on the seabed or on land, on land.

This was confirmed by – I don’t want to talk about it, we are at [Russian] Energy Week, seemingly not directly connected with this, but nevertheless I cannot but say that the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, committed by the Ukrainian special services, was also confirmation of this. I have already said that the regime in Kyiv has long been using terrorist methods, organizing political assassinations, ethnic cleansing, reprisals against civilians. Then they themselves post it on the Internet - they realize that they made a mistake - they immediately erase it. But still, everything remains on the network. They do not stop at nuclear terrorism either, I mean the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and the commission of terrorist attacks around the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia. In this series, of course, are attempts to undermine the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

I repeat: all the facts have been proven and documented, and the ideologists, customers of these crimes are their ultimate beneficiaries, beneficiaries - those who benefit from instability and conflicts.

And who is behind the sabotage at Nord Stream? Obviously, those who seek to finally break the ties between Russia and the European Union want to finally undermine and finish off the political subjectivity of Europe, weaken its industrial potential, and seize the market. And of course, someone who is technically – I want to emphasize this – is technically capable of arranging such explosions and has already resorted to such sabotage, and was caught by the hand, but remained unpunished.

Well, the beneficiaries, the beneficiaries, are already clear. I think that there is no need to go into details here, because the geopolitical importance of the remaining gas systems is increasing. They pass through the territory of Poland (Yamal - Europe), through the territory of Ukraine, two streams, all at one time Russia built with its own money. And also the USA, of course, which can now supply energy resources at high prices.

As they say in decent companies, highly likely, everything is clear, everything is clear who is behind it and who is the beneficiary.

It is now possible, indeed, on a large scale to impose natural liquefied gas from the United States on European countries, which is clearly inferior in terms of competitiveness to Russian pipeline gas. After all, prices for American LNG are much higher, it was well known to everyone before, and even more so now, but there are still additional risks, in addition to price indicators. The risks lie in the fact that all this is very unstable and any supplies may "float away" to other regions of the world. And we have seen this, by the way, more recently, when American tankers carrying LNG to Europe turned around halfway and changed destinations because LNG sellers were offered a higher price elsewhere. At the same time, the interests of European buyers were ignored.

I also want to remind you who then came to the aid of Europe and sent additional gas supplies to the European market - Russia. However, the leaders of these countries prefer not to think about it. On the contrary, they consider it possible to reproach us for “unreliability”. Are we refusing to deliver? We are ready to supply and supply within the framework of contracts the entire volume. We deliver the entire volume within the framework of contracts. But if someone does not want to take our product, what do we have to do with it? It's your decision.

He noted many times that the Nord Streams are devoid of any political background. These are purely commercial projects in which Russian and European companies participate on an equal footing, which means that Russia and our partners in the European Union should jointly decide the fate of the “streams”.

I will say that it is, of course, possible to repair gas pipelines that run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea and have been blown up. But this will make sense only in the case of their further economically justified operation, and, of course, when ensuring the safety of routes, this is a paramount condition.

If the Europeans and I come to a common decision to supply gas through the surviving branch - and there one branch of Nord Stream 2, apparently, has survived ... Unfortunately, we are not allowed to examine this branch, but pressure stored in the pipe. Maybe it is somehow damaged, we do not know this, because, as I said, they are not allowed to be examined, but the pressure remains, which means, apparently, it is in working condition. Its capacity is 27.5 billion cubic meters per year, which is about eight percent of all gas imports in Europe.

Russia is ready to start such deliveries. The ball, as they say, is on the side of the European Union. If they want, let them just open the tap, and that's it. I repeat, we are not restricting anyone in anything, and we are ready to supply additional volumes in the autumn-winter period.

More than once, including from the rostrum of the Russian Energy Week, they spoke about the causes and nature of the crisis that is developing in the European market, including the excessive enthusiasm for renewable energy sources to the detriment of hydrocarbons. Of course, it is necessary to deal with alternative types of energy - both the Sun, and wind, and tidal energy, and hydrogen. Of course, we need to do all this, but we need to do it in accordance with the volume of consumption today, with the growth rates of the world economy, with the needs for energy resources and with the level of technology development. But who does it, looking ahead, for political reasons, especially of an opportunistic domestic political nature? And so they did - here is the result now. The curtailment of nuclear energy is in the same row, as well as the rejection of long-term contracts in the gas sector and the transition to stock quotes.

By the way, according to expert estimates, this year alone, the spot gas pricing mechanism will bring losses to Europe in the amount of more than 300 billion euros, or about two percent of the eurozone's GDP. They could have been avoided if long-term oil-pegged contracts had been used. The professionals all sit here and understand what I'm talking about: the difference between the spot market and prices for long-term contracts is three, four times. And who did it? Are we? They did it themselves. In fact, they imposed this way of trading on us. Simply, in fact, they forced Gazprom to switch, in part, to pegging to the spot market, and now they are groaning. Well, it's their own fault.

It is clear how this problem with prices will be solved if they are high. We went through this in relation to other product groups: they just print money - that's all. In the last year alone, the money supply in the EU has grown by about a trillion euros. But the problem is, what will Europe do with this money? It will - just like other goods, including food - will also rake up gas from the world market. Consequently, other countries, primarily developing countries, will have to overpay for these energy resources.

The resource that comes to the European market is literally sold at exorbitant prices, as I have already said, and drives up inflation along the chain – it has already reached ten percent in the eurozone. Ordinary Europeans are suffering: in a year, their electricity and gas bills have more than tripled. The population, as in the Middle Ages, began to stock up on firewood for the winter.

What does Russia have to do with it? They are constantly trying to blame their own mistakes on someone, in this case, on Russia. We are to blame - I want to emphasize again. This is not even the result of any actions within the framework of a special military operation in Ukraine, in the Donbass - not at all. This is the result of misguided energy policies over a number of previous years. A whole series of years!

Rising costs are hurting local businesses. For some types of products, the rate of decline in output is measured in double digits. Deprived of affordable energy resources from Russia, European business is forced to close or seek a better share in foreign jurisdictions. This process is underway.

I can't help but point out some statistics here. According to the Europeans themselves, according to the EU, exports to Russia for 2021 amounted to 89.3 billion euros, and imports from Russia - 162.5 billion euros. The deficit in favor of Russia is 73.2 billion euros. This is in 2021. And in the first months of this year, this deficit increased to 103.2 billion euros.

What is the reason? We sell our goods, we are ready to buy European goods, but they do not sell themselves. They imposed an embargo on one commodity group, on the second, on the third - hence the deficit. What are we doing here? They will blame us again. We sell what they want to buy at market prices - please. We are ready to buy from you, but you do not sell. The deficit is growing and, I repeat, it is not at all our fault. There is no need to refuse cooperation with Russia - that's all.

What else I would like to note – in fact, this is now being emphasized by the highest-level European officials themselves – is that European prosperity in recent decades has been largely based on cooperation with Russia.

The consequences of the partial rejection of goods from Russia are already negatively affecting the economy and the inhabitants of Europe. However, instead of working to regain competitive advantage, their own competitive advantage in the form of cheap and reliable Russian energy, the eurozone countries are only making things worse. Including decided to limit the price of oil and oil products from our country. But these are not only the countries of Europe, but together with North America they are doing this, and, as planned, since December of this year.

In this regard, I will quote the American economist, Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman: “If you want to create a shortage, for example, of tomatoes, then you just need to pass a law according to which retailers cannot sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. You will immediately get a shortage of tomatoes. It's the same with oil or gas,” end of quote. Let me remind you that Milton Friedman passed away in 2006. He had nothing to do with the Russian Government and certainly cannot be listed as an agent of Russia's influence.

It would seem that these are common truths. But the leaders of some countries, its bureaucratic elite brush aside these obvious considerations, on someone else's command, they deliberately lead a course towards the de-industrialization of their countries, towards a decrease in the quality of life of citizens, which, of course, will entail irreversible consequences.

You need to clearly understand: if you limit the price of oil from Russia or other countries, set some artificial price ceilings, then this will inevitably worsen the investment climate in the entire world energy sector, then provoke an increase in the global shortage of energy resources and a further increase in their cost, and this, I repeat, hit the poorest countries first. These inevitable consequences are absolutely obvious. And experts, including world-class experts – I just quoted a quote – talk about this all the time.

No intervention or unpacking of oil reserves will fix the situation. There are simply no free resources in the required volumes - that's what it's all about. You have to understand it in the end.

The fact is that due to the aggressive promotion of the “green” agenda, which, of course, needs support, as I said, but it’s just smart to do all this, and when it comes to the aggressive promotion of this agenda, including in the eurozone, the global oil and gas sector is already underinvested. Already! At the same time, EU and US sanctions were imposed against the leading oil producers - and this is about 20 percent of the world industry.

As a result, in 2020-2021, investments in oil and gas production dropped to the lowest levels over the past 15 years. You see, in 2020 and 2021, long before the start of our special operation in the Donbass. And these investments turned out to be more than two times lower than in 2014, due to the actions of the so-called Western politicians, and business did not invest 2.5 trillion dollars. I will say more about this later: what does the OPEC plus decision have to do with it? The OPEC Plus solution is aimed solely at balancing the global market. Found another extreme - OPEC Plus. Why this is here is not clear. That is, it is clear that they simply, I repeat once again, cover up their own mistakes, try to cover up. I will say two more words about this.

I will note one more important point. Suppose, as I have already said, the notorious ceiling on oil prices will be introduced. But who can guarantee that the same ceiling will not be set in other sectors of the economy - in agriculture, in the production of semiconductors, fertilizers, in metallurgy, and not only in relation to Russia, but also to any other country in the world? No one will give such guarantees, which means that with their adventurous decisions, some Western politicians are destroying the global market economy, in fact, posing a threat to the well-being of billions of people.

The so-called neo-liberal ideologists of the West already have experience of destroying traditional values, we all see it. Now, apparently, they have taken up the freedom of enterprise and private initiative.

Russia always fulfills its obligations, as I have already said. In this we are fundamentally different from the Western states, which cynically refused to fulfill the previously concluded contracts in the financial and technological spheres, in the supply and maintenance of equipment.

I will say one thing - Russia will not act contrary to common sense, to pay for someone else's well-being at its own expense. We will not supply energy resources to those countries that will limit their prices. To those who, instead of business partnerships and market mechanisms, prefer cheating tricks and shameless blackmail – and we have been living in such a paradigm in the political sphere for decades – I want to say that we will not act to our own detriment, keep in mind.

Our principled position is that stability, a balanced energy market and a secure future for peoples can only be ensured by joint efforts in an open, honest dialogue based on the principles of joint responsibility and consideration of each other's national interests.

This is the kind of dialogue we have established with our partners under the OPEC Plus agreement, which I have just mentioned. As you know, yet another agreement was reached within the framework of this agreement. They take into account, first of all, the dynamics of supply and demand for oil, as well as long-term investment programs in the oil industry, which, as I have already said, is objectively underfunded.

In October, the oil production quota in our countries will remain at the level of August this year, and then will be reduced by two million barrels per day. We hope that these decisions will suit both oil producers and consumers. At the same time, the coordination of the actions of the OPEC Plus partners will certainly continue to ensure stability and predictability of the market. Experts understand that the issue of predictability is absolutely key.

Dear colleagues!

Russia is one of the key participants in the global energy market. In terms of production and export of oil and gas, in terms of electricity generation and coal mining, our country is among the world leaders.

Despite the sanctions pressure and sabotage of the infrastructure, we do not intend to give up our positions. We will continue to ensure stable energy security and develop ties with those countries that are interested in this.

The volume of oil production in Russia has already overcome the decline and is even slightly higher than last year. We plan that on the horizon of 2025, the total volume of oil exports, as well as the volume of oil production in our country, will remain approximately at the current level.

What would be noted here. In recent decades, Russian oil production has become largely dependent on foreign equipment and services, but by 2025 we plan to increase the share of domestic equipment in the industry to 80 percent. Thus, despite the withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market (they only make it worse for themselves), we will be able to ensure oil production in the required volumes.

As for Russian gas, we will certainly place our goods on world markets. Such projects as Power of Siberia and Turkish Stream are confirming their effectiveness. We have an effect on Turkey, for the domestic Turkish market, and Blue Stream. 14 billion cubic meters of gas are now being transited to Europe via Turkish Stream. Not that big, but decent.

What would you like to say in this regard? We could move the lost volume of transit through Nord Stream along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating in Turkey the largest gas hub for Europe, if, Of course, our partners are interested in this. But in general, of course, there is economic feasibility, and the level of security here, judging by recent events, is, of course, much higher.

Adds and high-tech segment of liquefied natural gas. Its production in Russia increased by almost 60 percent in August. In particular, the unique Yamal LNG plant located in the Arctic latitudes is successfully operating. Our systemic measures to develop the resource base of the Arctic, to develop the Northern Sea Route and the transport and icebreaking fleet are yielding results.

We will continue to increase energy exports to fast-growing markets. And of course, we intend to expand the geography of our deliveries. In the near future, we will identify key infrastructure facilities for this and begin their construction, including such promising projects as the Power of Siberia-2 and its Mongolian section Soyuz Vostok, as well as connecting the Asian and European segments of the national gas transmission system. We will continue to support LNG terminal projects. All strategic and extremely specific tasks in this area have been set before the Government of Russia. I'm sure they will be resolved.

We will also continue the transition to settlements in national currencies when delivering Russian energy resources. I already mentioned one such example: Gazprom and its Chinese partners decided to switch to the ruble and yuan in equal proportions when paying for gas supplies. Some European partners, as you also know very well, have also switched to paying for our gas in the Russian national currency, in rubles.

Dear colleagues!

Undoubtedly, Russia has been and will be one of the largest participants in the global energy market. But our key task is to ensure that the domestic fuel and energy complex works for the national economy, first of all, to increase its competitiveness, to develop and improve our regions, cities, towns, to improve the quality of life of our citizens.

A separate, strategic direction is to increase the volume of processing of raw materials. We are already implementing large-scale plans in this area, including projects in the Far East to develop large- and small-scale oil and gas chemistry. In the coming years, the number of such projects will increase markedly.

The social gasification program is gaining momentum. We are talking about residential buildings in cities and villages where network gas is laid. As of the beginning of October, gas has already been supplied to the land plots of more than three hundred thousand households.

At the same time, for many citizens, the cost of gas equipment and work inside the site is a serious burden, a big burden on the family budget, we have also talked about this. First of all, we are talking about large families, veterans, the disabled, families with low incomes. We need to help them, we will do it. What is this about? I ask the regional authorities to ensure the provision of subsidies to needy citizens for the purchase of gas equipment and carrying out relevant work inside the sites. The amount of such a subsidy should be at least one hundred thousand rubles per connection.

I understand that different regions have different budget opportunities, so the provision of subsidies in subjects of the Federation with a low level of budgetary security will be supported by federal resources.

I ask the Government to keep under control the implementation of this measure of support for citizens, to assess whether additional steps are needed here.

Another new solution. We have already agreed to include schools in the program of social gasification, to bring networks to them. I think it would be right if the Government, together with Gazprom, makes a similar decision in the near future with regard to medical organizations - polyclinics, hospitals, first-aid stations.

Thus, the key social facilities for the territories - medical and educational - will receive a source of cheap and environmentally friendly energy, which is especially important for rural areas.

In general, taking into account the receipt of new applications from citizens, the expansion of the number of connected facilities, I ask the Government to extend the social gasification program beyond the horizon of 2022.

And further. Despite the difficult economic environment and external restrictions, the capacities of the Russian energy system continue to be upgraded. This year, facilities with a total volume of more than two thousand megawatts were commissioned and modernized.

Such a systematic approach makes it possible to maintain electricity prices in Russia at the lowest level in Europe. Let me remind you that in the EU countries this year alone they have increased several times.

Particular attention should be paid to improving the reliability of the power grid complex. For the regions where the situation is the most difficult, special programs have been developed this year, and I ask the Government to start implementing them as soon as possible.

Dear friends!

Modern global energy is faced with unprecedented challenges and problems. For many, many years, the world community has been driven into this situation by the short-sighted, erroneous actions of a number of Western countries - I have already said this and, it seems to me, quite convincingly.

The search for a constructive way out of the situation, of course, should become the subject of thorough, professional, depoliticized discussions, including at the venues of the Russian Energy Week.

I repeat: Russia is ready for a trusting partnership in the energy sector in the interests of the sustainable development of our countries and their reliable supply of affordable energy. And we know that this approach is shared by the vast majority of our partners and states of the world.

I would like to wish you successful work and thank you for your attention.

Thanks a lot. Good luck!

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