Gazprom is the first to talk about the American LNG threat
Already in 2019, American liquefied natural gas (LNG) may become the main competitor to Russian natural gas in the European market. This information is provided by Reuters, which has published excerpts from an interview with Sergei Komlev, head of the contract structuring and pricing department of Gazprom, which he gave to Gazprom corporate magazine.
It should be noted that corporate periodicals are generally a very specific type of press. It is not difficult to guess that such publications, as a rule, are issued by large companies that pursue their corporate interests.
According to Komlev, in 2019 LNG from the USA can be redirected to Europe from Asia. In the Asian market, there has been a decline in LNG prices and the freight cost of specialized vessels has changed. Therefore, the diversion of American LNG from Asian to the European market is very likely. Prior to this, LNG in Asia was more expensive than in Europe.
- emphasized Komlev.
Komlev noted that LNG supplies to Europe are carried out not only by American companies. The Russian Novatek is also involved in this. According to Komlev, it was due to deliveries from Novatek in 2018 that European consumers increased LNG imports by 10,6%.
Thus, the growth in LNG supplies from Russia was almost two times higher than from the United States. And this trend, according to Komlev, persists at the beginning of 2019. At the same time, the supply of natural gas from Gazprom, on the contrary, is reduced, including due to competition from LNG and warm weather in Europe.
It must be recalled that it was recently reported how Russia escaped in first place for LNG supplies to Europe. In addition, the European Commission (EC) predicted only a slight increase in US LNG supplies to the European market in the next four years. The growing gas demand of the European Union was mainly to be covered by the Russian Gazprom and Novatek.
So it is quite possible that Reuters did not correctly understand Komlev’s words and wishful thinking. And Gazprom, in fact, is more afraid of competition not from expensive LNG from the United States, but from cheap Russian LNG from Novatek.
It should be noted that corporate periodicals are generally a very specific type of press. It is not difficult to guess that such publications, as a rule, are issued by large companies that pursue their corporate interests.
According to Komlev, in 2019 LNG from the USA can be redirected to Europe from Asia. In the Asian market, there has been a decline in LNG prices and the freight cost of specialized vessels has changed. Therefore, the diversion of American LNG from Asian to the European market is very likely. Prior to this, LNG in Asia was more expensive than in Europe.
As of early March (2019 - ed.), There are both incentives for redirecting supplies to Europe. And this makes supplies from the United States to Europe more attractive than to the Asia-Pacific region (APR)
- emphasized Komlev.
Komlev noted that LNG supplies to Europe are carried out not only by American companies. The Russian Novatek is also involved in this. According to Komlev, it was due to deliveries from Novatek in 2018 that European consumers increased LNG imports by 10,6%.
Thus, the growth in LNG supplies from Russia was almost two times higher than from the United States. And this trend, according to Komlev, persists at the beginning of 2019. At the same time, the supply of natural gas from Gazprom, on the contrary, is reduced, including due to competition from LNG and warm weather in Europe.
It must be recalled that it was recently reported how Russia escaped in first place for LNG supplies to Europe. In addition, the European Commission (EC) predicted only a slight increase in US LNG supplies to the European market in the next four years. The growing gas demand of the European Union was mainly to be covered by the Russian Gazprom and Novatek.
So it is quite possible that Reuters did not correctly understand Komlev’s words and wishful thinking. And Gazprom, in fact, is more afraid of competition not from expensive LNG from the United States, but from cheap Russian LNG from Novatek.
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