Germany is one of the world’s biggest gas importers and sources about 95 percent of its consumption from abroad. “But a big LNG import terminal takes around five years to build and come online” and require "very substantial investments". However, if the continent aims to replace a sizable chunk of current Russian pipeline gas with LNG from different sources, the import infrastructure is insufficient.ĭue to the war in Ukraine, " we’re seeing right now a flurry of new announced projects across EU member states,” Simon Dekeyrel, a climate and energy analyst at the European Policy Centre, told Energy Monitor. would scale up LNG exports to Europe to 50 bcm per year starting in 2023. In 2021 LNG exports to the EU recorded the highest volume, reaching more than 22 billion cubic meters, with an estimated value of 12 billion euros. to Europe have indeed increased every year since then. While largely a matter of business rather than politics, exports from the U.S. as a concession to cool a potential trade war. In July 2018, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker pledged that the bloc would import significant amounts of LNG from the U.S. The European Commission says LNG can boost the EU's gas supply diversity and therefore improve energy security.
#LIQUID WAR BACKGROUND FULL#
Spain has the continent's biggest capacity – which is not yet used to full capacity – but has only limited pipeline connections to the rest of the continent. While Europe’s LNG terminals have been underutilised on an annual average, Reuters reported that most operated at full capacity in February 2022. In 2020, Europe was responsible for a quarter of global inter-regional LNG trade. Who is buying it?Ĭhina was the world’s biggest LNG-importing country in 2021, followed by Japan. Taken together, European countries also import a sizeable share. Other major exporters include Malaysia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Algeria, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, Oman and Papua New Guinea. is also ramping up LNG exports, and could become the world’s largest exporter by 2022. Where does it come from?Īustralia and Qatar are the world’s biggest exporters of LNG. The U.S. In 2020, it accounted for about half of the global gas trade (excluding intra-regional pipeline gas trade), according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2021. Global LNG trade expanded by 6 percent in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Subsequently, supply could not keep up with rebounding demand during the economic recovery, leading to a gas crisis that hit Europe hardest, with prices reaching record highs. The coronavirus pandemic caused a global demand shock in 2020, which impacted gas production. However, natural gas is primarily composed of methane, itself a powerful greenhouse gas, and the rate of methane leakage in natural gas production, transport and storage is still hotly debated. In general, the gas is first liquefied in its country of origin, then transported via ships and re-gasified at the destination, before being fed into existing gas grids and pipelines.Ĭompared to other fossil fuels, natural gas emits the least amount of carbon dioxide when burned, prompting many countries to see it as a potential “bridge fuel” between dirtier fossil fuels and carbon-free energy sources. Natural gas has 600 times less volume in liquid form than gaseous, and LNG can be transported by ship, truck or rail to places traditional natural gas pipelines cannot reach, or can even be used as a fuel directly. LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is natural gas that has been super-cooled (−162☌) to a liquid state for easier storage and transportation.
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