Commissioning of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline equipment at an onshore section in Russia. Archival photo MOSCOW, May 29. Europe will definitely not live without Russian gas until winter, as it will not be possible to quickly replace supplies from Russia with additional volumes of liquefied natural gas, the deputy head of the Economics of Industries department said in a commentary to RIA Novosti Fuel and Energy Complex» TsSR Sergey Kolobanov.
" Europe will definitely not live without Russian gas in 2022 and winter 2023: it will not be possible to replace needs with LNG so quickly (even if we do not take into account that in the world "free& #34; LNG is not so much)", he says.
The interlocutor of the agency noted that only the execution of lease agreements, the delivery, installation and connection to gas transportation systems of floating regasification terminals will take at least six months. For now, it can be expected that the Europeans will reduce the consumption of Russian pipeline gas in 2022 by about 30 billion cubic meters, the expert estimated. He adds that a decrease in pumping from Russia to Europe and an increase in supplies from other countries have already been noted over the past four months, that is, the rebalancing has begun. However, it will be possible to talk about its completion no earlier than 2024-2025, Kolobanov concluded. RussiaThe European Commission, after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, developed the REPowerEU plan. It assumes a two-thirds reduction in Russian gas imports — that is, by about 100 billion cubic meters — by the end of the year. According to the International Energy Agency, the EU imported 155 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia in 2021, which is 45% of European imports and 40% of its total consumption. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, believes that the EU countries will be able to abandon Russian gas within two years. Gas: Rise in Addiction and Consumption PatternInfographicView