BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 16. Europe’s net LNG imports rose by a remarkable 70 percent (or 18 bcm) in the first quarter of 2022, as the continent compensated for the drop in Russian pipeline gas supplies mainly by increasing its LNG imports, Trend reports with reference to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“The surge in European LNG inflows was especially sharp in January when net imports were up by a staggering 174 percent y-o-y. Rising LNG inflows to Europe were mainly drawn away from the Asia Pacific region, which saw an 8 percent y-o-y decline in net LNG imports in Q1 2022. The biggest y-o-y declines in volume terms occurred in China (down by 13 percent), Japan (down by 10 percent), India (down by 23 percent) and Korea (down by 4 percent) during the first quarter. The Americas experienced modest demand declines in absolute terms while the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia registered small increases,” reads the IEA report.
The agency estimates that global LNG exports were up by 5 percent y-o-y in Q1 2022. This was almost entirely driven by the United States, which saw a 27 percent y-o-y rise in its LNG output.
“In 2022 as a whole, global LNG trade is projected to increase by 5 percent, a slight deceleration from the 2021 growth rate (at nearly 6 percent). In a marked change from the previous two years, Europe – not the Asia Pacific region – dominates LNG import growth in 2022. Forward curves at the end of March 2022 indicate a sustained TTF premium over Asian LNG spot prices (averaging in the USD 2-3/MBtu range in Q2-Q4 2022), which supports strong LNG inflows to Europe for the rest of the year. This would lead to the continent becoming the premium market for LNG for much of 2022,” the report says.
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