Oil is all that Putin has left, U.S. presidential guide Amos Hochstein says

Amos Hochstein photographed in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 27, 2022.

Hussam Shbaro | Anadolu Company | Getty Pictures

Oil is all Russia’s economic system has left following its invasion of Ukraine previous this 12 months, consistent with Amos Hochstein, particular presidential coordinator for President Joe Biden.

“Oil is the one factor they’ve left in that economic system … Putin has destroyed the remainder of the economic system,” Hochstein advised CNBC’s Hadley Gamble Monday.

“All he is were given left is the stuff that comes out of the bottom. He would possibly not promote his gasoline to Europe anymore, so all he has is oil, so that is what budget this warfare.”

The Russian Embassy to the U.Okay. used to be now not straight away to be had to answer the feedback when contacted via CNBC.

The Russian economic system contracted via 4% year-on-year over the second one quarter, and the Central Financial institution of Russia expects the downturn to deepen within the quarters forward. The Global Financial Fund expects Russia’s GDP to contract via 3.4% in 2022.

Hochstein’s feedback, from the ADIPEC convention in Abu Dhabi, come at a unstable time for power markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

Russia used to be the most important provider of each herbal gasoline and petroleum oils to the EU in 2021, consistent with Eurostat, alternatively gasoline exports from Russia to the Ecu Union have slid this 12 months.

“In spite of to be had manufacturing and shipping capability, Russia has lowered its gasoline provides to the Ecu Union via on the subject of 50% y-o-y for the reason that get started of 2022,” consistent with the Global Power Company.

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As such, Hochstein stressed out the significance of performing now to make sure a extra protected setting for the advance of long run applied sciences inside the power sector.

“Thankfully or sadly, power these days is the #1 factor on the earth,” he stated. “And , we are right here speaking about oil and gasoline, however the power transition — glance what we simply handed in america, the biggest local weather funding, which fits smartly with what international locations just like the UAE is doing, and a few different international locations around the globe.”

He added that those investments, into provide chains and the way forward for power extra widely, needed to be finished “these days.”

“In order that we do not finally end up with the similar geopolitics of power for renewables and for electrical automobiles as we had within the twentieth century in oil and gasoline,” he added.

— CNBC’s Elliot Smith contributed to this document.