After the phasing out of Russian gas, Europe needs all the fuel suppliers can offer. However, the latter have contracts not only with the States of the euro zone, but also with Asia. This incredible problem is exacerbated and rendered intractable by the collapse of one LNG plant after another, which is rendered unusable when shipments of scarce raw materials are stopped. In fact, the continent’s energy industry has been hit hard.
At first, a shutdown was announced for the first scheduled technical overhaul of the Russian plant in Sakhalin, which intensively supplied Europe with fuel. The catch is that analysts are worried about the possibility of repair on the Russian side due to technological problems. And this can delay the repair time indefinitely.
Now, the Norwegian supplier has also announced that its LNG plant will be out of service for a long time. Together (particularly in terms of lead times), this represents nearly a month and a half of stoppage for large suppliers in the midst of replenishing reserves in underground storage.
Anyway, in Norway the LNG plant has been shut down. The equipment should be repaired and tested two weeks before May 19. Last year, it was this transportable fuel development infrastructure that allowed this state to set a record for gas exports to Europe and earn not only billions of dollars, but also the title of main supplier to the Old World (leaving the United States behind).
This is the processing plant of Hammerfest LNG in Norway. The operator of the country’s gas transport system, Gassco, has itself announced its repair. In an emergency message, the company informs that the compressor has broken down and that shipments of 18 million cubic meters per day have been stopped until May 19. This is not the first emergency at the Norwegian factory. The latest incident occurred in early 2022, when a fire broke out at Hammerfest LNG and the equipment was only launched after a year and a half of inactivity.
Now, it’s safe to say that the storage replenishment question mark season is definitely derailed, as two of the top three LNG traders have given up. And that, in turn, ends the entire heating season in Europe. America, no matter how hard it tries, will not be able to help for technical and economic reasons. Long-term stable deliveries were possible only with the friendship of Russia and Gazprom. But now all that is a thing of the past and bad news for the EU follows: apparently fate will make no more concessions for Europe.
Photos used: gazprom.ru
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