ABC: Suppliers lose interest to European gas market: in winter EU gas shortage to reach 50%

The idea of trade in natural gas on the basis of spot in Europe has cracked: suppliers of liquid raw materials have lost interest to the European gas market.

The foreign media report that in 2013 supplies for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European market, at which in essence spot trading was based, has dropped sharply. The cause was reorientation of suppliers to more profitable in terms of price Asian markets. In 2012 Qatar, located at approximately equal distances from the main European and Asian consumers, reduced sharply supplies to Europe and in 2013 Algeria, which is situated at a distance of direct sight from the European Union, undertook the same steps.

As a result, the gas shortage in the EU has already reached 30% of standard consumption. The situation could get worse in the winter due to the fact that Gazprom, the main supplier of gas to the EU, declined in 2013 from the injection of gas into underground gas storages (UGSs) in Ukraine because of disagreements with the latter. In this regard, experts are already predicting that in winter Ukraine will begin massive selection of gas from Gazprom’s transit pipelines, leaving gas suppliers in Europe without fuel.  MORE