With the East wind of 6 m/s tanker “Telma Kosan” (Telma Kosan) entered Tuesday in the port of Karlshamn to deliver gas to Eon. On Sunday the ship left Ust-Luga, a major gas terminal in Russia five km from the Narva to the Gulf of Finland.
Over the Baltic sea, moderate visibility, air temperature plus one, about any wind gusts out of the question, average speed at sea was 12 knots.
Karlshamn is the fourth largest energy port in Sweden. The vast majority of traffic consist of ships from Poland, the Baltic States and Russia. 1 of 100 ships per year 700 are related to Russia. Russian mostly unload wood chips, wood, gas and oil. Half of all diesel and gasoline that is burnt in Sweden, is of Russian origin.
The port has ambitious plans for expansion, berths will become longer, the depth will increase, including in order to make the port part of the “silk road” between Europe and China.
It is for this interest took hold Margot Wallström (Margot Wallström), putting it to the fore when he and defence Minister Peter Hultqvist (Peter Hultqvist) on Monday evening agreed to continue the cooperation with Wasco Karlshamn — an international consortium, which was assigned the project “Northern stream”, which implies the construction of a gas pipeline between Germany and Russia.
The opposition does not mince words. Sweden obeyed, Sweden purchased the interests of the community determine the Swedish state security policy. Karlshamn deal even compared to the transit of German troops in 1940-ies.
The claim that non-aligned Sweden needs from the policy considerations of state security prevent the supply of gas to the biggest European country that is a member of NATO, as it was, and still is at best devoid of reason fantasy, and at worst irresponsible manifestation of megalomania that could happen only with representatives of the Moderate party, which is not enough inflow of fresh labour blood.
Sweden — a country in the Baltic region, which has the most international and communications cables laid on the seabed. We will develop this system in future, so we need to cooperate with all other riparian countries, fulfilling the General rules. For example, every time we want to run new cable to the other side of the sea, we will have to call the “Nord stream”, and to agree on how to do this on top of the pipelines, and so on. If we complicate their construction, it is necessary to remember that they have plenty of ways to complicate life for it to us. It is not necessary to provoke such a development.
Secret political arguments of state security, which were produced by the Ministry of defence to make Karlshamn to refuse to cooperate with Wasco, impossible to estimate, since nobody knows them. No reason not to trust our defense Department, but also no reason to doubt the possibility of a compromise between the interests of Karlshamn and defense of the country. If the defense Minister says that the situation is acceptable provided enhanced observation, it is presumptuous to scream that Sweden surrendered, or to say that the government has caved in to Moscow.
The position of Minister for foreign Affairs Margot Wallström could be called strong. Swedish trade interests, we must also protect and still did it successfully. Free sea and open ports always been and is now firmly part of the interests of Sweden. Not by chance the main task of the Ministry of foreign Affairs is to promote Swedish trade, as it is no coincidence that the Swedish Navy since the seventeenth century fought against pirates in the Mediterranean and Red seas. Barbarian state cajoled amber and live reindeer.
The Swedish Navy also, albeit rarely, fought with the Danes and Russians for control of the trade routes of the Baltic sea. We don’t have to do this anymore. Sweden is not a hybrid war with Russia. Blocking the government of individual transactions port enterprises does not necessarily go to Sweden for good. All States have the right to trade, be it via pipeline or via ships. It is also a principle that Sweden should and will protect.
Thereby we also support the right of cranky Americans to come with their new LNG tankers, which the Obama administration and its ambassadors sought for many years. Welcome. The LPG market is rapidly expanding and will soon supply more gas than it is by pipeline. The United States will soon be the largest supplier of gas. The EU is the world’s largest buyer of gas, which receives mostly from North Africa and the North sea. If us gas is cheaper than Russian, the Germans will buy it, and the Swedish ports and waters will be opened for the transfer. That’s what we stand for.
Island Khan reports that Wednesday will be blowing South-East wind 6-9 m/s.
