ENERGIE
Europa's slordige scheiding van Russisch gas (1)
August 29, 2024 - The energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Although European natural gas stockpiles are brimming, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Italy still rely heavily on Moscow for gas.
Patrick Pouyanne, the CEO of TotelEnergies, told Reuters on Monday (August 26) that a transit agreement to deliver Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, which last year still totalled 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) out of total EU gas consumption of 295 bcm, is due to expire at the end of the year.
“One of the main factors is about this transit for Ukraine because even if the storage are full, I’m not sure we are fully covered if this is interrupted,” Pouyanne said in an interview.
Although European gas storage levels were last seen at 91.2% full -- 10 weeks ahead of the official target of November 1 -- Pouyanne warned that new supply from new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects like Golden Pass in the United States has been delayed.
“So we are still in a phase where we don’t have much margin on the supply for energy,” the CEO added.
Europe can buy LNG from anywhere in the world, offsetting the loss of Russian gas supply via pipelines. However, this year, Europe is facing competition, not just from China but also from smaller buyers in Asia.
As a result, European LNG imports this summer have been running between 15% and 25% below the same periods in 2022 and 2023.
The European gas benchmark, TTF (Title Transfer Facility), is trading close to €40 ($44) per megawatt hour.