Europe Bailed Out by Cheap LNG
Europe is being lucky here, but if I learned one thing in life it’s that when my success depends on luck, I am toast as luck won’t last. Europe is a passive taker of whatever happens in the world market – it has very little capacity to actively shape its own destiny. Russia and the US battle for the European market and Europe just sits there and seems to think that being lucky is a good place to be. But it is not. When you don’t shape your destiny, your destiny will shape you. Like it or not. Europe could have given shale a real chance, it could have gone more nuclear, it could push clean coal, it could be an innovator in logistics and clean energy. But all we know is new taxes and subsidies in order to keep moribund industries afloat forever. Luck – to hell with it. I like to know I can cut myself a good life even if Fortuna hates me. Because this goddess is fickle.
In the Netherlands, once Europe’s largest natural gas supplier, one of the big questions is how to deal with declining production and increasing reliance on imports.
