picture than last year. joining me now is paul hickin, director of s&p global commodity insights. thank you for being with us today. if this is the new normal, how far along the road are we in adjusting? i think there are two things for oil and gas. i think there are two things for oiland gas. for oil, we are already seeing the signs of different flows coming in. europe has switched to us and released crude flows and earlier you said that russia and india are taking much more of russian oil supplies. with a gas scenario, it is different because it s not easy to reshuffle flows in the same way. europe is much more tied to gas flows. to reshuffle that, you have to get more lng, more from the us and qatar in
these are monthly figures and they wobble around and are not as reliable as the three month ago. even then, when you look at the picture, it is not good. looking for example at services, four fifths of the economy, you can see activity bear has shrunk by 0.3%. a large part of that was because the government was spending less money on test and trace because it was wound down. looking at other sectors, production, manufacturing and oil and sectors, production, manufacturing and oiland gas, sectors, production, manufacturing and oil and gas, that was down 0.6%. part of the reason there is what we have been talking about for weeks, supply disruption. in the car industry they have struggled to get parts. and supply difficulties also in the oil and gas industry partly because of the war in ukraine. other sectors like construction, that is also down by 0.4%. every sector of the economy is down,
absolutely, these skills are so transferable. a bit of new terminology and slightly different systems but nothing you would not face if systems but nothing you would not face if you systems but nothing you would not face if you were changing employers anyway face if you were changing employers anyway so, face if you were changing employers anyway so, yes, oiland face if you were changing employers anyway so, yes, oil and gas, face if you were changing employers anyway so, yes, oiland gas, and also anyway so, yes, oiland gas, and also wind anyway so, yes, oil and gas, and also wind- anyway so, yes, oil and gas, and also wind. , ., ., also wind. interesting future ahead for both of you. also wind. interesting future ahead for both of you. thanks also wind. interesting future ahead for both of you. thanks for - also wind. interesting future ahead for both of you. thanks forjoiningl for both of you. thanks forjoining us. at the moment one in ten people in the city is emplo
and share buy-backs. one of the thins and share buy-backs. one of the things they and share buy-backs. one of the things they are and share buy-backs. one of the things they are saying, - and share buy-backs. one of the things they are saying, correct . and share buy-backs. one of the. things they are saying, correct me if i m wrong, is in terms of investment in renewables, the windfall tax is not something that would help their activity on that side, and yet there is a lot of money swilling around. if they can afford to buy back their shares, why can t they afford either a windfall tax plus investment in renewables? things don t add up, do they? i think to be fair they are trying to do everything. they re trying to offer value to shareholders. they are trying invest in the energy transition for the long term, particularly in the uk, which is a message that comes through strongly in the quarterly results. but they re also trying to make sure that the investments in hydrocarbons, oi
could cut off itself from the russian and oil and gas. even in these first weeks of his invasion against ukraine, european countries keep consuming, importing, russian oil and gas, consuming, importing, russian oiland gas, but consuming, importing, russian oil and gas, but i would say that if the western countries would try to implement real embargo on oil and gas exports from russia, just right now, i would bet that probably within a month or two, the russian military operation in ukraine probably will be ceased. it will be stopped, so that is why it is one of the very effective instruments still in the possession of the western countries. possession of the western countries. ., , ., ., countries. you can see more of that interview countries. you can see more of that interview with countries. you can see more of that interview with president i that interview with president putin s former chief economic