Will there be enough gas to meet winter demand?

And the answer is: it depends. Wood Mackenzie believes that many factors will influence how the European market will balance this winter, including how much LNG, pipe imports and domestic storage will be available to Europe, how demand responds to these record prices and how much capacity – and actual supply - will be available from Russia.

Massimo Di-Odoardo, Vice President, Gas and LNG Research at Wood Mackenzie, said: “The key factor that will define whether demand will be met is weather dynamics, not only in Europe, but also in Asia and Russia.

“Under normal winter weather conditions across the northern hemisphere, Europe will not have issues in meeting demand. Storage will only achieve 78% of capacity or 87 billion m³ by the end of October, a record low. And LNG imports will be limited this winter as Asian demand remains strong.

“But a rebound in UK and Norwegian production, together with stronger exports from Algeria and Azerbaijan, will increase winter pipe supply compared to the summer.”

Di-Odoardo said high gas prices are putting pressure on demand, encouraging the use of coal in power, and curtailing some energy-intensive industrial demand.

He said: “Assuming Russia will use all of its existing capacity, including via Nord Stream, Yamal-Europe, TurkStream and Ukraine up to the ship-or-pay agreement, we anticipate Europe will need around 58 billion m³ of storage to meet demand.

“This would leave around 29 billion m³ of gas in storage by the end of March, below the average level of the past five years, but comfortably above record lows. We expect gas prices to ease under normal weather conditions.”

However, he said a cold European winter combined with a cold Asian winter will mean there is insufficient gas available to meet demand, unless more pipeline capacity from Russia is available.

“A cold European winter could boost heating demand up to 20 billion m³, while a cold Asian winter could add up to 7.5 million t (or 10.5 billion m³) of LNG demand across China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. This would take 10.5 billion m³ in LNG imports away from the European market,” he said.

“With only 29 billion m³ of gas in storage, there is a risk storage levels could drop to zero. If this plays out, Europe would be wholly dependent on Russian flows above existing capacity.

“If it is approved by the end of the year, Nord Stream 2 could provide some respite to the European market, delivering up to 12.5 billion m³ through the winter. But that remains uncertain and may materialise too late for the market to stabilise under cold weather dynamics.

“Consequently, Europe would also require flows throughout winter from the additional 12 billion m³ capacity via Ukraine above the current ship-or-pay agreement.

“Russia has so far ruled that out, but could recent pledges by President Vladimir Putin to stabilise the market mean that some additional flows through Ukraine might materialise.”

A cold Russian winter would mean Gazprom will only have sufficient volumes to provide additional exports via Nord Stream 2 or Ukraine (above the ship-or-pay agreement), not for both. Russian will be able to count on more domestic supply this winter, but low storage levels and high winter demand would result in its export potential to Europe being limited to 106 billion m³ through the winter.

Di-Odoardo said: “This would still amount to record Russian export volumes to Europe and enough to supply all existing pipeline capacity and additional volumes via either Nord Stream 2 or via Ukraine above the ship-or-pay agreement.

“But Russia would need an additional 12 billion m³, or up to 118 billion m³ of supply, to accommodate both additional routes. It seems unlikely Russia would be able to supply those volumes if its winter is also cold.”

He added: “This winter could be one like no other. A cold winter in both Europe and Asia would risk European storage levels dropping to zero, leaving Europe dependent on timely approval of Nord Stream 2 or Russian willingness to ship more gas through Ukraine if it is to avoid demand curtailments.

“A cold winter in Russia would limit Gazprom’s ability to support additional exports through both Nord Stream 2 and Ukraine – although that has never been likely.

“The sky could be the limit for European gas prices this winter.”

Read the article online at: https://www.tanksterminals.com/terminals/11102021/will-there-be-enough-gas-to-meet-winter-demand/