Russian gas in Europe: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

An in-depth analysis of recent developments and prospects in Europe-Russia gas relations

 With quality information from Russia getting increasingly scarce, the Russian natural gas market has become more and more of a black box. In its latest report “Russian gas in Europe: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. An in-depth analysis of recent developments and prospects in Europe-Russia gas relations”, CEDIGAZ tracks the unprecedented changes between glorious “yesterday” (2018-2021), gloomy “today” (2022-Q1 2023) of Russian gas (both pipeline and LNG) in Europe, including the evolution of the European countries’ dependence on Russian gas, using data still available. The report also discusses possible futures for Russian gas in Europe after 2023 (“tomorrow”) – given new inputs, including selected pipeline export routes limitations, the Turkish natural gas hub initiative, and Russian LNG project developments.

Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) in Gas Network Utilities – An International Perspective

Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) in gas network utilities, particularly methane emissions, is a significant yet often overlooked environmental and financial burden. The increasing concern about environmental issues has placed immense pressure on the oil and gas industry to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Methane, a potent GHG with up to 86 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2, has garnered attention at COP26, where 105 countries signed the Global Methane Pledge, committing to a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030. It is evident that curbing methane emissions from gas networks holds immense potential for making a substantial impact on global climate change goals.

World natural gas demand fell by 1.6% amid unprecedented energy crisis and strong inflation

2022 marked the worst natural gas and energy crisis in history due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has strongly impacted the global natural gas market because of the predominant role of Russian gas in European energy supply. Russian pipeline gas exports to Europe slumped to the lowest level observed since the mid-1980s, resulting in a loss of 77 bcm, equivalent to 20% of EU gas consumption in 2021, which had to be replaced.  The global gas market was already tight in 2021 and the Russian gas supply crisis has thus further exacerbated the tightening and the volatility of gas markets. Prices of all commodities and energies spiked and the European gas prices in particular showed an exceptional volatility. Countries responded to energy security issues and high gas prices with gas-to-coal switching (Germany, Asia), energy savings and an acceleration of the development of clean energy technologies. Furthermore, the slower economic growth and the explosion in gas prices led to a destruction of industrial gas demand.