Europe & Russia: Consumption

Although prices are higher than they were earlier in the year, gas consumption by Europe’s largest markets still looks likely to rise on an annual basis in Q3. 

Although annual growth is not expected in all of the major markets – demand could fall in Italy and Spain in Q3 – gas demand from the largest northern European consumers could be high enough to pull up consumption overall. The UK is continuing to see strong power sector gas offtake, a trend that is expected to continue over the coming months. Even with hub prices close to where they were at the start of 2016, gas demand from the power sector is still up year on year. The UK is likely to see the highest level of annual demand growth over the coming months, and this will help pull up total consumption from the six largest markets by around 3% on an annual basis this quarter.