Rix Group Home Reset
  • Shop
  • Search
  • My Account
  • 0800 542 4207
  • Rix Logo Large
    • Search
    • Contact
      • Rix
      • Account
      • Search
      • My Depot
        • Energy Saving Tips
        • Domestic
              • You’re searching Region in Section

                  • Domestic Fuels

                    • Domestic Heating Oil
                    • K+ Heating Oil
                    • AGA Cooker Fuel
                    • HVO Heating Oil
                  • Domestic Services

                    • Heating Services
                    • Oil Boiler Service & Repair
                    • Heating Oil Fuel Tanks
                    • Tank Health Check
                    • Oil Boiler Insurance
                    • Heating Oil Monthly Payment Plans
                    • My Account Request
                  • Domestic Info

                    • Customer Reviews
                    • How Often Should your Boiler be Serviced?
                    • What is Heating Oil?
                    • How Does a Heating Oil System Work?
                    • Energy Saving Tips For Your Home
                    • Heating Oil Price Guide
                • Popular Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Recommended Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
                • Contact your depot
        • Agriculture
              • You’re searching Region in Section

                  • Agri Fuels

                    • Red Diesel
                    • Agricultural Gas Oil+
                    • Road Diesel for Farms
                    • Kerosene
                    • Agricultural Superheat35
                    • Agricultural Lubricants
                    • AdBlue for Farms
                    • HVO Renewable Diesel
                  • Agri Services

                    • Agricultural Heating Services
                    • Agricultural Forward Purchase
                    • Agricultural Fuel Tanks
                  • Agri Info

                    • MSDS Downloads
                    • Apply for an account
                    • Fuel Quality
                    • Agricultural Fuel Cleaning
                • Popular Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Recommended Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
                • Contact your depot
        • Commercial
              • You’re searching Region in Section

                  • Commercial Fuels

                    • Red Diesel Tax Changes
                    • Diesel
                    • Diesel +
                    • Commercial Gas Oil
                    • Commercial Gas Oil +
                    • Superheat 35
                    • Commercial Kerosene
                    • Commercial Lubricants
                    • AdBlue
                    • HVO Renewable Diesel
                  • Commercial Services

                    • Commercial Heating Services
                    • Commercial Forward Purchase
                    • Commercial Fuel Tanks
                    • Fuel Cards
                  • Commercial Info

                    • National Accounts
                    • MSDS Downloads
                    • Apply for an Account
                    • Fuel Quality
                    • Haulage Fuel Cleaning
                • Popular Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Recommended Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
                • Contact your depot
        • HVO
        • Info
              • You’re searching Region in Section

                  • Information Hub

                    • Information help centre
                    • Customer Reviews
                    • Covid Information Centre
                    • Covid Risk Assessment
                  • My Account Request
                  • About Rix

                    • Family owned business
                    • Communities
                    • CSR Policy
                    • History
                    • Our Companies
                    • Long Term Vision
                    • News
                    • Blog
                  • Legal & Privacy

                    • Careers
                    • Complaints
                    • GDPR Policy
                    • Legal Information
                    • Modern Slavery Statement
                    • Privacy Policy
                    • Terms & Conditions
                    • Accreditations
                • Popular Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Recommended Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
                • Contact your depot
        • Contact
              • You’re searching Region in Section

                  • Contact us

                    • Contact head office
                  • Our Depot locations

                    • Chester
                    • East Anglia
                    • Essex
                    • RixK9Fuels Gainsborough
                    • Grangemouth
                    • Oakleys Mercia
                    • Oakleys Midlands
                    • Montrose
                    • North East
                    • North Lincolnshire
                    • RixStones Malton
                    • Scotland
                    • South Lincolnshire
                    • Yorkshire & the Humber
                  • Find depot
                • Popular Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Recommended Pages

                  • About Rix
                  • Why us?
                  • FAQ’s
                  • Customer Reviews
                • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
                • Contact your depot
        • Get Your Heating Oil Quote
        • Get in touch
    • Search

      Search

      We found {results_count_total} results for {phrase}

      Generic filters
      Exact matches only
Viewing No Region Selected Reset
  • For home
  • News
  • Rix Oil Market Report March 2014

Rix Oil Market Report March 2014

 

March 28, 2014

< Back to our News

AdBlue Explained

November 12, 2018

Post by:

When James Bond scriptwriters get together to discuss the next Bond baddie, the starting points (one assumes) are what his (has there ever been a her?) dastardly motives are and how he is going to achieve them. Obviously world domination and nuclear Armageddon tend to be the “go-to” subjects but when it comes to methods, control of pipelines features reasonably often (4 bond films that we can think of). And why not? The concept of “pipeline wars” is certainly not new and the current machinations in Europe and Russia would make the basis for a pretty good movie…

With pipelines, it is normally gas transportation and not oil that tends to take on strategic importance. This is in part because of the (relative) ease with which oil can be transported; whereas oil can be taken out of the ground and sent to markets by truck, train, ship and pipeline, gas can only really be transported by pipeline (ship, truck and rail, all to varying degrees, being uneconomic). Plus of course, there is a more fundamental reason behind the importance of gas, which is that however much we treasure oil derived mobility, it is gas-derived heat and electricity that more profoundly touches basic human needs.

So where gas pipelines start, which countries they go through and where they end-up, are all of vital importance - and Europe sits at the heart of a dizzying network of existing and proposed lines. First off we have the Nordstream pipeline; majority owned by the Russian state (Gazprom), supplying 100% of the gas into the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) and then continuing on into Northern Europe via the German Baltic coast. The Yamal line is another Gazprom operation that travels from Siberia into Germany (via Belorussia and Poland) and then you have the Southstream line - again majority owned by Gazprom, but this time with a string of major EU partners coming along for the ride (EDF = France, ENI = Italy, Wintershall = Germany). As the name suggests, Southstream travels south via the Crimean Black Sea (erm…hold on…isn’t that relevant at the moment?) into Bulgaria and then up through the Balkans to Austria and Germany. Moving Westwards, we have the declining North Sea network (only 25% of British gas will come from the North Sea by 2020) operated by Norwegian, British, Dutch and Danish companies and then finally heading South, we have the North African – Mediterranean lines; Greenstream from Libya (into Europe via Italy), the Transmed line from Algeria / Tunisia (also into Italy) and the Mahgreb-Europe line (again from Algeria, but this time coming into Europe via Spain).

It’s amazing to think of all of these gas lines criss-crossing into Europe and supplying our energy markets but often from the most politically unstable places. To address this, the EU is trying to create a new line – the Nabucco (Trans-Caspian) Line – which will secure more reliable gas supplies and most important of all will bypass Russia. But in itself, this huge project has already become a byword for political intrigue and diplomatic grand-standing. For critics, Nabucco is the kind of white elephant that sums up the EU (all the way down to its pretentious operatic name) and certainly, a great deal is wrong with Nabucco. The costs are already projected to be double the original budget of $6bn. The line incorporates far too many geographically diverse countries to function properly; Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey to name but a few. But most critical of all is that it has lost the support of too many key players. On the operational side both BP and RWE have walked away because of the high costs, but more damaging than this, is Germany’s refusal to fully endorse the project. In effect this is Germany’s declaration that their energy future lies with Russia – on the surface an economically suicidal position to take. But such controversial decision making is largely borne out of practicality as Germany is already irrevocably reliant on Russian gas and since Frau Merkel’s hasty decision to dismantle her Nuclear Energy sector (post-Fukishima), this dependence has only accelerated. Germany’s stance also goes a long way in explaining their initially muted response to the recent events in Ukraine and probably means that Europe will be lacking backbone for quite a while when it comes to standing up to Russian political and economic designs.

Despite all of the above however, Nabucco remains strategically crucial to Europe’s future as relying on energy from Russia, the North Sea and North Africa is just not in any way, a prudent long-term plan. The pipelines that criss-cross Europe represent a long-term battle to dominate the European power market and it is one that the Europeans are losing. In fact, a grand pincer movement of Russian pipelines has now surrounded Europe in the form of Nordstream and Southstream. Both these lines were specifically designed to bypass the meddlesome Euro-Soviet states (Belorussia, Ukraine, Georgia) who are now steam-rollered by Russia because they no longer play any part in gas transit into Europe. And the domination looks set to continue. Just look at Gazprom’s zealous courtship of Greece’s bankrupt state gas utility (DEPA)! Indeed if people were more interested in energy, they would be asking questions as to why Gazprom is so interested in a loss making entity, other than to create another Russian owned “flanking” pipeline (this time bringing gas into Europe from the newly discovered reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean).

So whilst Europe snoozes, the Russian energy sector (as ever) remains busy. But Nabucco still has the potential to change the course of recent history, as it is the only pipeline that Europe can fully control. Perhaps then, here is a cause that all Europeans can get behind, rather than endless debates over constitutional powers or whether convicted murderers should have i-pads. With Europe representing over 50% of Russia’s gas revenues ($24bn pa), the sum of the parts is definitely more than the individual elements, so it should still be possible for European unity on Nabucco to ensure that Russia does not have things all its own way.

Related Products & Services

Heating Oil
Rix have been keeping homes warm for over 85 years. Delivered direct to your tank.
Find out more
K+ Heating Oil
Fuel your home the energy efficient way with our premium heating oil.
Find out more
Aga Cooker Fuel
Ensure your oil-fired cooker is up to the challenge with our Aga cooker fuel.
Find out more

Related News Posts

Industry Updates, Local Community News
gainsbrough
Rix Petroleum acquires Gainsborough-based fuel supplier
Rix Linconshire
Industry Updates, Local Community News
gainsbrough
Rix Petroleum agrees year-long partnership with Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance
Get a quick quote
Heating oil at the best prices
0800 542 4207
Mon-Fri: 08-30 - 17:30
* Please see your
local depot for details
Request callback
Fill out our quick form and we'll call you back
        • About Rix

          • Site Map
          • Our Companies
          • Family owned business
          • CSR Policy
          • Careers
          • FAQs
          • Blog
          • News Landing
          • Customer Reviews
          • Oil Price and Availability Update
        • Home

          • Heating Oil Price Guide
          • Heating Oil
          • Premium Heating Oil
          • AGA Cooker Fuel
          • Heating Oil Fuel Tanks
          • Heating Services
          • Oil Boiler Insurance
          • My Account
        • Agriculture

          • Gas Oil
          • Gas Oil +
          • Diesel
          • SuperHeat 35
          • AdBlue
          • Lubricants
          • Fuel Tanks
        • Commercial

          • Gas Oil
          • Gas Oil +
          • Diesel
          • SuperHeat 35
          • AdBlue
          • Fuel Tanks
          • National Accounts
        • Legal & Privacy

          • Legal Information
          • Terms & Conditions
          • Privacy Policy
          • Complaints
          • Accreditations
          • Downloads
          • Cookies
          • Cookie Settings
          • Marketing Preferences
          • Modern Slavery Statement

connect with us:

Part ofJ R Rix Logo

Sage Pay
Cyber Essentials

Registered office: Two Humber Quays, Wellington Street West, Hull, HU1 2BN

We use cookies to deliver the website’s basic functionality in a secure manor and analytics cookies to count visits/traffic sources to improve the performance of our site. We share info about the use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. By selecting the “ACCEPT ALL” option, you consent to the use of the above cookies. To personalise your settings, please select the options below and select “ACCEPT CHOICES”.
REJECTALLOW CHOICESACCEPT ALLCookie settings
Cookie Settings

Privacy Overview

We use cookies to deliver the website’s basic functionality in a secure manor and analytics cookies to count visits/traffic sources to improve the performance of our site. We share info about the use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. By selecting the “ACCEPT ALL” option, you consent to the use of the above cookies. To personalise your settings, please select the options below and select “ALLOW CHOICES”.

The last two cookie categories are optional and can be switched on or off using the Manage settings option below.

If you are OK with cookies, then simply select the ‘Accept All’ button.

To find out more read our cookie policy here.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Performance
We use cookies to monitor user activity on our website so we can understand just how people use the site. These valuable insights allow us to see where improvements can be made so we can develop and improve the website going forward.
Marketing
Marketing cookies help us decide which of our products, services and offers may be relevant for you. We may use this data to tailor the marketing and ads you see on other websites and mobile apps, including social media.