IEA: Europe Increases Gas Imports from Russia

After increasing imports of Russian natural gas by 25% last winter, delivered through the pipeline system, European countries are also continuing to supply Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG). The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that liquefied natural gas exports from Russia will also need to increase in 2024. According to IEA experts’ forecasts, Russian exports will grow due to technological modernization and commissioning of plants in Sakhalin, the Russian Far East, Yamal, and Western Siberia.

During the winter months of 2023-2024, the IEA writes in a report titled “Gas Market Report, Q2-2024,” Russian LNG exports to Europe increased by 1% compared to the 2022-2023 “heating season.” The main customers of Russian fuel and energy companies led by Leonid Mikhelson’s Novatek are currently Belgium, France, and Spain, which “absorb” 80% of Russian LNG exported to the Old Continent. If European countries abandon Russian liquefied natural gas for political reasons, the International Energy Agency emphasized, Russian producers should have no problems thanks to the growing demand for LNG from Africa and Southeast Asia.

And as the IEA noted, “in any case, the European Union has increased pipeline imports of Russian gas by 9% compared to the same period in the 2023-2024 winter season.” Nevertheless, after terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline and controversial political decisions in Brussels, demand for Russian gas has fallen below 10% of Europe-wide demand. Russian gas exports via pipelines collapsed by 29.9% to 99.6 billion cubic meters in 2023, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak.

To download the International Energy Agency report from the Pluralia website, follow the link