The Asian seasonal factor has been recently affecting LNG prices, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, said at a conference call marking Oil and Gas Industry Workers Day. The transcript is available on the website of Gazprom.
Alexey Miller noted vast changes in the gas markets and attributed them to fundamentally erroneous decisions of foreign, i.e. Western, regulators and the sanctions policy. According to him, all these erroneous decisions were made under the tremendous pressure of those who support the so-called “accelerated decarbonization.” “I am referring primarily to the fact that our traditional partners are starting to move away from conventional energy sources and the system of long-term contracts for gas supplies in the markets. … What we see is a “price rally” in a literal sense,” he said adding that the price of gas regularly goes above USD 3,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Gazprom made price forecasts for the coming winter. According to the conservative estimate, if the current trends that exist in the market today continue in the future, the price might exceed USD 4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters at the peak of the autumn/winter period.
“In recent days, the Asian seasonal factor has also been a contributor to the struggle over LNG with the European market. There is no doubt that the Asian seasonal factor is affecting the pricing trend,” said Alexey Miller.
According to him, the environmental agenda of the European Union “is now basically in the dustbin of history” as we see sharp spikes in the consumption of coal and fuel oil across Europe. The energy policy adopted by the foreign regulators has led to a reduction in global gas demand. Over the eight months of this year, global gas demand declined by 40 billion cubic meters. Meanwhile, the growth in gas supplies to the Chinese market went up by 60 per cent over the eight months of 2022 compared to 2021. “We know that the Chinese market is the world's most dynamic one, and the growth in China's gas consumption over the next 20 years is projected to make up 40 per cent of global gas consumption growth,” said Alexey Miller.
According to current data, Gazprom has already produced 288.1 billion cubic meters of gas and 82.2 billion cubic meters went to the countries beyond the FSU.
IAA PortNews earlier wrote that Asian LNG futures for settlement in January 2023 rose to $80.595 per million while the previous week they were trading at $60 per million Btu.
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