BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 25. Most investment is going to short to medium term projects to increase production of gas from existing facilities and to receiving terminals, Charles Ellinas, CEO of Cyprus-based energy consultancy e-CNHC told Trend.
“The US and Europe are also concerned about long-term lock-in of new oil and gas infrastructure. They are both committed to accelerating energy transition. In this context, most investment is going to short to medium term projects to increase production of gas from existing facilities and to receiving terminals. In the US there is revival of the shale patch and on bringing back LNG export projects. Qatar is considering further expansion of its liquefaction capacity,” he said.
Ellinas noted that investment in renewables is accelerating everywhere, to the extent that over the next five years it could be double the investment during the previous five years.
“In addition, there are discussions with Middle East and North Africa countries on green hydrogen production and export to Europe. The EU is considering imposing sanctions on oil and oil-related products, but it is not clear how far these will go. Also, there are no indications that this will extend to gas. The key country, Germany said that it is moving as fast as possible to end its reliance on Russian gas, but doing it now will lead to industry shut-downs and recession. Austria also made it clear that it opposes sanctions on oil and gas. There is no consensus yet in the EU for such sanctions. It will take time. European oil and gas futures prices do not seem to be pricing in any such sanctions,” the expert added.
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