Asian LNG futures for settlement in January 2023 rose to $80
The Asian seasonal factor has been recently affecting LNG prices, Alexey Miller, Chairman ofthe Gazprom Management Committee, said at aconference call marking Oil and Gas Industry Workers Day. The transcript is available on the website of Gazprom.
Alexey Miller noted vast changes inthe gas markets and attributed them to fundamentally erroneousdecisions offoreign, i.e. Western, regulators and the sanctions policy. According to him, all these erroneous decisions were made under the tremendous pressure ofthose who support the so-called “accelerated decarbonization.” “Iamreferring primarily tothe fact that our traditional partners are starting tomove away from conventional energy sources and the system oflong-term contracts for gas supplies inthe markets. … What wesee isa“price rally” inaliteral sense,” he said adding that the price ofgas regularly goes above USD 3,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Gazprom made price forecasts for the coming winter. According tothe conservative estimate , if the current trends that exist inthe market today continue inthe future, the price might exceed USD4,000per 1,000 cubic meters atthe peak ofthe /winter period.
“Inrecent days, the Asian seasonal factor has also been acontributor tothe struggle over LNG with theEuropeanmarket. There isnodoubt that the Asian seasonal factor isaffecting the pricing trend,” said Alexey Miller.
According to him, the environmental agenda ofthe European Union “isnow basically inthe dustbin ofhistory” as we see sharp spikes inthe consumption ofcoal and fuel oil across Europe. The energy policy adopted bythe foreign regulators has led toareduction inglobal gas demand. Over the eight months ofthis year, global gas demand declined by40billion cubic meters. Meanwhile, the growth ingas supplies tothe Chinese market went upby60per cent over the eight months of2022 compared to2021. “Weknow that the Chinese market isthe world’s most dynamic one, and the growth inChina’s gas consumption over the next 20years isprojected tomake up40per cent ofglobal gas consumption growth,” said Alexey Miller.
According tocurrent data, Gazprom has already produced 288.1 billion cubic meters ofgas and 82.2 billion cubic meters went tothe 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.
