BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25. There are some challenges with increasing Europe’s domestic gas supply, Trend reports with reference to the Global Gas Report 2022 (GGR) released by the International Gas Union (IGU), Snam and Rystad Energy.
“Governments can consider increasing domestic gas production to enhance security of supply. One example where this has been done historically is in Egypt. After a period of strong growth in gas demand in the early 2000s, Egypt went from being a large net exporter to becoming a net importer. This stimulated investments in exploration and development of new fields. This has in turn made Egypt self-sufficient with natural gas and the country has once again become a net exporter. More recently, we have also seen the UK becoming increasingly focused on prioritizing domestic resources. The Cambo and Rosebank discoveries were at risk of being stranded, but the crisis in Ukraine has spurred renewed interest in developing these fields to reduce the UK’s reliance on energy imports,” reads the report.
However, IGU notes that there are also some challenges with increasing Europe’s domestic supply.
“First, there is the geological aspect: many European countries have mature oil and gas industries with less potential for new discoveries. European production has been in decline since the early 2000s, largely driven by reduced output from the UK and the Groningen field in the Netherlands.
Second, there is a time lag from when final investment decisions are made until they result in increased output. It is critical that the policy environment, both financial and political, does not impose barriers on the development of new supply sources outside of Europe holding great potential to support global energy security by adding new supply origins to the global gas markets. Africa is one example where development of new supply can benefit both, its domestic development and global energy security,” the report says.
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