A worker checks valves at an LNG terminal. File photoMOSCOW, June 12There is little available liquefied natural gas on the market, and Europe will have to wage a price war with Asia for it, Sergey Kolobanov, deputy head of the Economics of Fuel and Energy Complex department of the Central Strategic Research Center, said in a commentary to RIA Novosti. The analyst noted that now, while gas is being pumped into underground storage facilities, Europe may face two problems — unpredictable weather and competition for LNG with Asia. or short-term LNG contracts is not so large — about 190 billion cubic meters (in regasified form), — and for these volumes a price war with Asia is expected, which is actively restoring the economy after a series of lockdowns,» he says. However, the main «enemy» of the Europeans is the unpredictable weather, the source said. Gas consumption is affected by two main factors: heat, which increases the consumption of electricity for air conditioning, and wind, on which the generation of electricity from renewable sources depends. Thus, in calm and hot weather, the demand for gas generation increases, Kolobanov explained. continue to prepare for winter and pump gas into underground storage facilities. Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data show that the average level of occupancy of the «subways» on the morning of June 8 exceeded 50%. In three months, Europe replenished the reserves by more than 26 billion cubic meters. Now the total volume of gas in underground storage facilities has exceeded 53 billion cubic meters. To reach the target level of 80%, Europe will have to pump another 30 billion cubic meters of gas, and to reach 90% — almost 40 billion cubic meters.
May 21, 09:30 InfographicEurope and Russian Gas: Rising Dependence and Consumption PatternInfographicView
