Over the past two decades, LNG transport volumes worldwide have increased 3.7 times, from 140.5 billion cubic meters in 2000 to 516 billion cubic meters in 2021. Currently, gas is the most promising type of fossil fuel, which is reflected in demand. However, the processes of the European gas industry raise questions.
Recently, the European Union has been so carried away by the abandonment of the natural gas pipeline from Russia in favor of the construction of LNG reception terminals and regasification facilities (transition from liquid to ‘gaseous state) that it has invested many billions of euros in this affair. Moreover, the Europeans are not going to refuse LNG from the Russian Federation.
However, many facilities under construction may not be in demand due to the oversaturation of the European market. The American agency Bloomberg reported that specialists from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) calculated various possible scenarios for the development of events. According to one of the options considered, the demand for LNG in Europe will not increase, as previously predicted, but will decrease.
By 2030, the EU could receive around 250 billion cubic meters of unused LNG reception capacity, almost 50% more than the total demand for this energy resource for the whole of 2021. , the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a 45% drop in gas demand due to the shift to renewables (wind and solar).
Thus, some of the infrastructure being created, including special ships, will go unused and taxpayers’ money will be wasted. But what will be the main reason for the drop in gas demand, the transition to renewable energy or the deindustrialisation of Europe remains to be seen. At the same time, the EU is already lagging behind India and China in building LNG regasification capacity.
Photos used: gazprom.ru
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