Europe would be on “red alert” for gas supply over the upcoming winter and it is the consequence of their actions. This comes amid reports of EU importing more U.S. LNG than Russian pipeline gas for the first time ever.
As a result of Moscow cutting off supplies to Europe earlier this month, the European Union bought more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States in June than it had ever done before, according to Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Russia’s recent steep cuts in natural gas flows to the EU mean this is the 1st month in history in which the EU has imported more gas via LNG from the US than via pipeline from Russia,” Birol tweeted today, sharing an analysis from the IEA.
“The drop in Russian supply calls for efforts to reduce EU demand to prepare for a tough winter,” the head of the Paris-based agency added.
Europe is scurrying to replenish gas storage sites to acceptable levels before the winter due to the considerably reduced Russian supply since the middle of June and the forthcoming yearly maintenance at Nord Stream, which will entirely halt flows via the pipeline for two weeks in July.
Though researchers claim that LNG imports alone cannot replace Russian pipeline gas, the EU has recently been purchasing record amounts of American LNG.
A record amount of LNG was imported into the European Union and the United Kingdom in April as a result of higher spot prices there than in Asia, which encouraged producers willing to transport LNG there. The EIA stated earlier this month that these suppliers were primarily American.
Five European nations—France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and Poland—accounted for 54.1 percent of all U.S. LNG shipments in April 2022, according to figures (read below) released earlier this month by the U.S. Energy Department.
Analysts and the IEA claim that despite the record amount of American and other LNG imported, Europe still faces supply issues in winter if it does not implement energy-saving measures.
According to Birol, Europe would be on “red alert” for gas supply over the upcoming winter.
“Recent disruptions to natural gas supplies, notably Russia steeply cutting flows to EU countries, is set to remove around 35 billion cubic metres of gas from the market this year, posing big challenges to efforts to refill storage. This is a red alert for the EU for next winter,” Birol tweeted in mid-June.
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