NEW YORK, January 13. /TASS/. Europe risks failing to meet its gas storage targets for next winter due to the termination of Russian gas transit to Europe through Ukrainian territory, Bloomberg reported.
The situation may set the stage "for one last scramble for supplies" before new liquefied natural gas capacity is commissioned, the agency said, adding that it will create new opportunities for countries exporting LNG. It also suggested that this state of affairs may put poorer emerging countries from Asia to South America at risk of getting priced out of the market.
While Europe has enough gas reserves to get through this winter and prices have eased since the start of the year, inventories are being eroded by cold weather, Bloomberg wrote. Moreover, supply options have been squeezed since the start of 2025 when transit of Russian gas stopped, the agency added.
"There will certainly be an energy gap in Europe this year. That means that all the incremental LNG that’s coming online this year around the world will go into making up for that shortfall in Russian gas," Francisco Blanch, commodity strategist at Bank of America, was quoted as saying. To cover its projected demand, Europe will need to import as much as an extra 10 million tons per year of LNG, which is about 10% more than in 2024, Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at MST Marquee, said.
On January 1, transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine was completely stopped due to Kiev's refusal to extend a previous agreement. Earlier, Gazprom reported that this refusal by Kiev deprived the Russian holding of the technical and legal ability to supply fuel via this route.