BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.17. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the EU grew significantly, by a staggering 89 percent in Q3 2022 in year-on-year comparison, after growing by 49 percent in the previous quarter, Trend reports via the European Commission.
The Commission’s report reveals that looking at the three months of the quarter, EU LNG imports were up by 119 percent in July, by 70 percent in August and by 83 percent in September, compared to the same months of 2021. In October and November 2022 EU LNG imports respectively grew by 59 percent and 84 percent, largely owing to the measurable price premium of European gas market to Asia and other parts of the world. In Q3 2022 EU LNG imports amounted to 32.4 bcm, down from 35.7 bcm in the previous quarter but up from 17.1 bcm in Q3 2021, as Figure 15 shows. The total number of LNG cargoes arrived in the EU was 403 in Q3 2022, slightly down from 433 in Q2 2022, but up from 246 in Q3 2021.
In Q3 2022, France was the biggest LNG importer in the EU, importing 8.8 bcm of liquefied natural gas, slightly ahead of Spain, where LNG imports amounted to 7.0 bcm. In year-on-year comparison, imports were up by 134 percent in France, whereas in Spain they rose by 43 percent. LNG imports in the Netherlands, amounting to 4.7 bcm in Q3 2022, showed a three-fold increase (up by 299 percent) year-on-year. Belgium and was the fourth biggest importer, receiving 3.3 bcm of LNG (+256 percent), followed by Italy, importing around 3.0 bcm (up by 27 percent year-on-year). Both Poland and Portugal imported 1.5 bcm of LNG in Q3 2022 (respectively +73 percent and 13 percent). Greece imported around 1 bcm in Q3 2022, up by 29 percent, while Lithuania had a quarterly import of 0.9 bcm (109% higher than in Q3 2021). At the same time, Croatia imported 0.6 bcm (+42 percent).
The total EU LNG imports amounted to an estimated €57 billion in Q3 2022, up from €8.0 billion a year before, principally owing to the impact of sharply increasing wholesale gas prices (rising to more than three-fold) year-on-year, and to the significant increase in imported volumes (89 percent). In the first three quarters of 2022, the EU imported 97.9 bcm LNG, in comparison to 58.3 bcm imported in the same period of 2021.
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