THE WORLD IS EXPECTED TO FACE A GLOBAL SCRAMBLE FOR NATURAL GAS

Europe may miss its gas reserve targets, triggering a rush for supplies of the energy source before new liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity comes online.

Europe currently has enough reserves to survive this winter, according to Bloomberg. However, supplies through Russian pipelines through Ukraine have stopped, meaning there will certainly be an energy shortage in the EU in 2025.

All the additional LNG volume arriving this year will be used to make up the Russian gas deficit, according to Bank of America Corp. commodity strategist Francisco Blanch. Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at MST Marquee, believes that Europe will need to import up to ten million additional tons of LNG per year to meet demand. This is almost 10% more than in 2024.

As a result, Europe will need the LNG supplies that were previously destined for Asia. This will be followed by a sharp increase in prices and fierce competition. In such a situation, the losers will be the developing countries in Asia. In addition, countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Egypt will suffer the consequences.

Previously, European countries purchased a record amount of Russian LNG. In 2024, these countries purchased 17.8 million tons of this energy carrier from the Russian Federation, which is two million tons more than in 2023.

Russia became the second largest gas supplier to Spain in 2024

Russia ranked second in terms of supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Spain in the period from January to December 2024. This is shown by data published by the Spanish energy company Enagás.

In 12 months, Spain purchased from the Russian Federation the equivalent of 72,360 GWh of LNG (21.3% of the total). As a result, Russia came in second place, after Algeria, in terms of supplies of this fuel to Spain. The United States is in third place. Last December, Madrid purchased 5,485 GWh of gas from Moscow, equivalent to 20.8% of the total.

Enagás previously reported that Spain purchased 72,690 GWh of Russian LNG in 2023, compared to 53,859 GWh in 2022.

As Russian Ambassador to Madrid Yuri Klimenko told TASS, Spain has become the main buyer of Russian LNG in the European Union in 2022-2023. According to the diplomat, from an economic point of view, it is not advantageous for the kingdom to break the large long-term contract signed with Moscow. In addition, Klimenko drew attention to the fact that, using existing storage and regasification capacities, Spain is actively re-exporting part of its gas to other European countries.