Europe – time for an LNG boom?
Melkøya Snøhvit LNG-plant, Norway. With strong piped supplies expected to grow, the market for LNG could be limited. (Statoil)
As the world’s LNG supply increases, the focus is on markets that might absorb new cargoes. The debate over how much LNG will land and stay in Europe – particularly from the United States – involves politics as well as prices. Security and diversity of supply, competition for market share, the prices of competing fuels and the region’s supply/demand balance are all factors that will affect the outlook for LNG in Europe’s gas mix over the next 5-10 years.
The gas demand of European OECD members (excluding Turkey) was around 422 billion cubic metres in 2015, an increase of 5% compared with 2014. The UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands – the region’s six largest markets – accounted for nearly 80% of that demand.