by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
The global energy crisis has entered an alarming new stage. In recent months, natural gas prices have risen to absurd heights and supplies have been getting tighter and tighter all over the planet. But I did not expect that we would see any rationing yet. It had been my opinion that we could possibly see some limited rationing once we reached the worst moments of the winter, but apparently things are worse than I thought. In fact, when I heard about what is going on in Pakistan right now I was absolutely horrified…
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Pakistan has no other option but to ration natural gas supply this winter, with gas provided three times a day for cooking to households, amid acute shortages and a forex crisis in the world’s fifth most populous country, an official from the petroleum ministry told a Parliament panel this week.
The energy crisis in Pakistan has deepened this year, and now, natural gas supplies will be very limited for households, according to officials.
How would you feel if your natural gas was turned off throughout the winter except for meal times?
It is being reported that Pakistani households will only have their natural gas turned on “for three hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and three hours in the evening”…
“There would be no gas supply (to household consumers) for 16 hours” a day, Muhammad Mahmood told the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Petroleum, as carried by the local outlet Dawn.
Pakistani households will have gas available for three hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and three hours in the evening, Mahmood added.
I had no idea that conditions were already so bad in Pakistan.
And there are some in the business community that would like to make natural gas rationing for Pakistani households “a permanent feature throughout the year”…
Appreciating the judicious decision of natural gas rationing for domestic consumers, the business community has urged the government to make this prudent decision a permanent feature throughout the year as 50 percent of total gas in Pakistan is consumed by households, which is one of major hindrances in economic growth of the country.
With prices for imported natural gas being so high, it is probably inevitable that other poor countries will be forced to implement similar measures.
Needless to say, that is really, really bad news.
Thanks to relentless stockpiling ahead of time, things will not be quite as bad for Europe this winter as many had originally anticipated.
But Europeans could still be facing occasional blackouts, and they will definitely have to deal with “sky-high energy bills”…
In 1972, natural gas exports from the Soviet Union accounted for around 4% of European gas consumption. By 2021, Russia was providing almost 40% of Europe’s gas. As Moscow’s market share has gradually increased, so has its ability to manipulate prices and trigger crises. Most Europeans now acknowledge that this reliance on Russia represents a major strategic blunder. Too late. Europe’s “green energy transition” features one major flaw: it relies on Russian gas imports.
Back to the future. This will be an extremely difficult winter for all Europeans, whether they face blackouts or heating issues and sky-high energy bills.
The good news, if you want to call it that, is that European fertilizer production is starting to bounce back a bit.
At one point, European fertilizer output had been cut by nearly two-thirds, but now it is back up to 63 percent…
Norway’s Yara International one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, said that it was now operating at 65% of its European ammonia capacity—having slashed output to just over a third of its total capacity for much of the second half of this year. Commodity research firm CRU International Ltd. said Yara’s moves are in line with other producers. Overall, European fertilizer output is now at about 63% of total capacity, having previously stood at around 37% at the start of October, CRU said.
Let us hope that number continues to rise, because fertilizer prices are already insanely high.
As those prices continue to rise, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is warning that the global food crisis that we are now witnessing could get substantially worse…
“Higher costs for imported energy and fertilizer are behind the foreseen increase. Both are particularly relevant in import bills, posing strains for the current accounts of low-income and lower middle-income countries,” the report said, adding that “As a result, some countries may be forced to reduce input applications, almost inevitably resulting in lower agricultural productivity and lower domestic food availability.”
Here in the United States, those that rely on natural gas for heating are likely to see much higher bills this winter.
At this point, things are looking particularly grim in New England…
With the global natural gas supply stretching thin, Eversource and other utility companies have been sounding the alarm.
Bills have already been going up for some.
Eyewitness News ran into someone in Berlin who described how one of her bills increased to over $200.
Even though bills will be going up quite a bit, ISO New England is assuring everyone that there won’t be any shortages as long as winter conditions are “mild” or “moderate”…
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