Natural Gas Market

Seasonal Strength, Structural Risk: Russia’s LNG Position in China (and the U.S. Variable)

Posted in Analysis, Natural Gas Market on

By Irina Mironova for Cedigaz

Russia’s gas trade with China continued to evolve in 2025, demonstrating a growing structural reliance on the Chinese market across both pipeline and LNG channels. While recent political signals – including the Power of Siberia 2 memorandum at the SCO Summit and the direct deliveries from Arctic LNG 2 to China’s Beihai LNG terminal – attracted considerable attention, the underlying trade data point to a more nuanced picture. China’s LNG imports from Russia rose seasonally in September, in line with typical autumn patterns rather than representing a record-breaking surge, and cumulative LNG deliveries over January–October remained lower year-on-year. This dynamic highlights an increasingly asymmetric relationship: Russia is becoming more dependent on China to absorb redirected pipeline gas and discounted LNG, whereas for Beijing, LNG continues to serve a flexible balancing role, with limited structural growth in underlying demand.

Türkiye’s Balancing Act: Between Pipelines and LNG in a Re-shaped European Gas Landscape

Posted in Analysis, Country Report, Natural Gas Market on

By Irina Mironova for Cedigaz

As Europe’s gas market recalibrates after three years of upheaval, Türkiye is positioning itself as both a physical and commercial hub. A combination of robust pipeline inflows, moderate LNG demand, and a steady expansion of trading and storage capacity supports Ankara’s ambition to anchor regional gas flows.

CEDIGAZ First Estimates 2025

After enduring a prolonged and unprecedented series of shocks, the global natural gas demand resumed its steady growth trajectory

Posted in Analysis, First Estimates, Natural Gas Market, Natural Gas Prices, Natural Gas Statistics on

In 2024, global natural gas demand was estimated to have recorded a strong 2.9% growth, to stand at a new record of 4166 bcm, representing an annual incremental volume of 118 bcm. By way of comparison, growth over the pre-crisis period 2010-2019 stood at 2.4 %/year. This rebound was partly due to structural growth factors, which are expected to persist in the long term, including energy policies in favour of the expansion of gas, the booming Asian gas market, the growing role of gas as a dispatchable electricity source supporting intermittent renewables, increased use of LNG for transportation and more sudden and extreme climatic events which reinforced the crucial role of gas-fired power generation for peak load. On the supply side, global marketed natural gas production increased more moderately by 1.7% to 4159 bcm, driven predominantly by Russia, China and Norway. Despite tight LNG supplies, demand continued to grow robustly as major consumer markets tapped into their abundant stocks during periods of market tensions to ensure gas supply security and flexibility. In this context, European and Asian spot prices softened from the previous year but remained elevated. High price volatility reflected unforeseen events on both the supply and demand sides, including geopolitical tensions and extreme weather events.