BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 8
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The year-on-year increase in EU liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports was 42 percent in Q4 2019, being definitely lower than in the previous three quarters of 2019 (respectively 117 percent, 92 percent and 75 percent), Trend reports citing the European Commission.
The quarterly LNG import reached 30.4 bcm however, up from 23.2 bcm in Q3 2019, reads the updated report of the Commission.
“This also reflects the impact of the base period, as LNG imports in the EU started to pick up in the last quarter of 2018. With the exception of Sweden and Malta, representing only small import quantities, all LNG importing countries in the EU showed measurable (in most cases double or triple digit) increases in per cent compared to Q4 2018.”
United Kingdom was the biggest importer in Q4 2019 (7 bcm) showing an increase of 84 percent in year-on-year comparison, while in France, importing 6 bcm, the year-on-year increase was 43 percent and in the third biggest importer Spain (5.4 bcm) imports rose by 16 percent compared to Q4 2019. LNG imports in Italy, amounting to 3.2 bcm in Q4 2019, showed only an increase of 6 percent while that in the Netherlands only 5 percent (reaching 2 bcm). Belgium showed a year-on-year LNG import increase of 148 percent in Q4 2019 (amounting to 2.8 bcm), similarly to Greece and Lithuania, where imports more than doubled, albeit with smaller quantities. The total EU LNG imports amounted to an estimated €4.6 billion in Q4 2019, down from €5.8 billion a year before, as LNG import gas prices showed a significant decrease since the end of 2018.
In 2019 as whole, the total amount of LNG imported to the EU was more than 108 bcm, up by 48 bcm, or by 75 percent compared to 2018. The biggest LNG importers in the EU were Spain (22.4 bcm), France (22.1 bcm), the UK (18 bcm), Italy (13.5 bcm), the Netherlands and Belgium (8.6-8.8 bcm). The monetary value of LNG imports in the EU in 2019 amounted to an estimated €16.2 billion, slightly up from €15.4 billion in 2018, as result of increasing import volumes and decreasing average annual prices.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, LNG market prices in Europe remained closely aligned with their East Asian peers, implying that Europe offered a competitive destination for LNG cargos, especially if shipment costs are also taken into account (in the case of cargos from the Atlantic Basin and the Middle East). This was at least the fifth quarter when global LNG prices remained well aligned, primarily owing to the abundant global LNG supply, growing faster than demand in East Asia.
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