U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to the European Union saw a notable surge of nearly 20% in April compared to last year, according to fresh statistics. From April 1st to 23rd, exports jumped from 4.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) to about 4.8 bcm—an impressive rise of around 18%. This uptick is largely attributed to increased demand from Spain, as highlighted by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a prominent think tank.
In contrast, Russian LNG supplies plummeted by 35%, dropping from 1.8 bcm down to just over 1 bcm during the same timeframe. The entire European region—including the UK and Türkiye—accounted for a whopping 80% of U.S. LNG exports, with France leading the charge at approximately 14.3%, followed closely by the UK at around 13.6% and Türkiye at about 12.2%. Notably, U.S. shipments to Spain skyrocketed five-fold, nearing an impressive total of nearly 1.2 bcm.
European officials have expressed their willingness to increase purchases of American energy sources amid ongoing tariff threats on imports from other regions like Russia. Additionally, there are discussions within the EU about potentially relaxing methane emission regulations in order to facilitate more U.S deliveries.
On another note, Russian LNG faced meaningful challenges this April with a sharp decline in exports compared to last year’s figures during this period—a drop that raises questions about whether U.S supplies can effectively fill that gap left by Russian sources.
Adding further complications for Russia’s Novatek was an unexpected halt in operations at Train 3 of its Yamal LNG facility earlier this month; though, production has since resumed normal operations.
The EU’s transshipment ban implemented late March may also be impacting Russian export capabilities significantly; under this new rule, EU terminals cannot reload LNG sourced from Russia anymore—forcing Novatek into ship-to-ship transfers instead! As of January alone, Kildin Island near Murmansk has seen almost as many such operations as it did throughout all of last year.
Globally speaking, Russian LNG exports fell by roughly one-quarter year-over-year for April’s reporting period—with China cutting back its imports dramatically—from one billion cubic meters down to just four hundred million due primarily to sluggish demand coupled with logistical shifts following Europe’s transshipment restrictions.
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