Starting September 26, Moscow has been hosting the three-day annual Russian Energy Week International Forum (REN-2024). This year’s REN is seventh in a row (except for the COVID year 2020 — ed. note), with over four thousand people from more than 50 countries taking part. The main theme is "Energy cooperation in a multipolar world".
The platform has been key for discussing trends in developing the national Fuel & Energy Complex and those in the global energy market. The traditionally world-class venue has engaged heads of major energy industry companies.
The REN’s centerpiece has been its plenary session attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Vladimir Putin taken the floor with global threats to the world energy market coming posed by the West: "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 motive is obvious here, as Putin explained: the West has loathed fair 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."
"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," the president noted.
At the same time, the counter-solutions are rapidly evolving, “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."
Putin recalled that our world has entered an era of fundamental, 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."
In proof of his words, the national leader cited objective statistical 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,” Putin added.
Russia remains a leading energy market players worldwide, despite the entire sanctions pressure coming from countries of the "Western pool". Over the past two and a half years, domestic companies have been able to refocus their supply of oil, petrochemicals, and coal. For example, by the end of last year, the share of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) in Russia's energy exports grew by one and a half times to exceed 60 percent as compared to the previous 39 percent. In general, friendly states account for over 90 percent of Russia's energy exports. At the same time, its physical volume, except for natural gas, has actually held onto the levels of 2021.
Russia has been steadily expanding the geography and scale of its energy cooperation: new routes are being built to the dynamic and capacious markets, including the EurAsEC, CIS, and South Eurasian countries. Supplies via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline to China have been on the rise. Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) keep growing either. Thus, LNG from the Russian Arctic has turned into one of key cargoes shipped along the Northern Sea Route.
Moscow is placing its stake on the expansion of international transport corridors. By 2030, the volume of traffic along those should increase by at least one and a half times as compared to 2021.
Separately, the leader of the Russian Federation focused on financial infrastructure, namely payments for Russian exports. He did admit "certain difficulties" here. And to solve the problem, “we are switching to settlements in national currencies.” Moreover, as Putin explained, this is of great interest to our partners as well. The share of the ruble in foreign trade operations is already approaching 40 percent (in 2021 to 2023, the ruble’s share in export payments almost tripled, to 39 percent). "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," Putin added. He stressed that the supply of Russian energy resources helps friendly countries restrain the growth of import prices, ensure their energy security and economic stability, and more successfully compete in the world market.
It was crucial for Moscow to acquaint international participants with the current status of its national fuel and energy complex. The Russian President did it brilliantly, assuring the audience in the country's sustainable energy security, having reinforced his thesis with accumulated statistics.
As per last year, Russia’s overall energy consumption has yet again reached a record high, exceeding figures for the Soviet period. And this circumstance, as Putin stressed, is the “most unmistakable sign of economic growth.” The Russian leader pointed out the environmental aspect, too: "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."
