No matter how tall they are electricity billsEurope will survive the winter because it has already purchased enough oil and natural gas. However, this was possible at the expense of the world’s poorest countries, which were practically excluded from the world natural gas market due to the sudden energy gluttony of the Old Continent.

Developing countries are unable to compete for energetic resources and cannot meet their immediate needs for the winter. The result will inevitably be the closure of their factories, frequent and prolonged power outages and social unrest, and this critical situation is likely to continue into the next decade. As Saul Kavonich, an energy analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, points out, “Europe’s energy instability has come at the expense of the developing world, where it has led to energy poverty.” He clarifies that Europe has literally “sucked and continues to suck natural gas from other countries at any cost.”

Countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines have already experienced a summer of power outages and political and social unrest and are now facing severe weather and freezing temperatures. There are parts of South Asia where the cold is even more piercing than in London, and these geographic areas now have very little hope of securing long-term supplies to meet their energy needs. The problem lies in Europe’s transition to an international energy market, where there are no binding contracts, and deliveries are made in real time at the request of the customer. And as energy prices skyrocketed, many South Asian suppliers simply canceled deliveries to those countries in favor of European markets, which offered them higher profits. And, of course, energy exporters from Qatar to the US are accepting bids from European markets, meaning that for the first time in their history, countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand have to compete with Germany and other powerful European economies in terms of prices. they will offer. And, as Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol Energy Group, noted, “We borrow other people’s energy.”

Poor countries cannot compete with the high prices Europe offers to gas suppliers.

The current situation, shaped by the choices and problems of the developed economies, is multifacetedly negative for poor countries, as the strengthening of the dollar against the currencies of both poor and rich countries further complicates an already difficult situation. Poor countries are being asked to choose whether to pay to buy scarce and expensive fuel or pay in installments to pay off their debt. And, of course, energy suppliers to the world market are increasingly reluctant to sell it to countries that face bankruptcy. It literally looks like the developing world is paying the price for the misdeeds and sins of the developed economies. Added to all of the above are the natural disasters that many poor Asian countries are suffering from due to climate change, which is largely the responsibility of the industrialized economies of the West. Extreme weather events, such as the devastating floods in Pakistan, are causing devastating effects on the economies of developing countries, which of course makes the leaders of the countries gathered in Egypt these days think about how rich countries can offer more support. poor.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell last month to their lowest level in three years, prompting Moody’s Investors Service to further downgrade the country’s debt to junk bond status. Similarly, inventories in Bangladesh, India and the Philippines are at their lowest levels in two years. And it is clear, and it follows from all analyzes, that without Russian gas supplies from the world market will remain limited, energy prices will be high and, of course, developing countries will have no choice but to turn to the most polluting fuels.

Meanwhile, European countries are accelerating the construction of floating terminals for future liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. Germany, Italy and Finland have already secured these units. After all, the Netherlands has been importing LNG to its floating terminals since September. According to BloombergNEF, this means that by 2026 demand from European countries will grow by about 60%.