Gazprom will again reduce gas supplies via Nord Stream: how much Europe will lose

Alexey Belogoryev commented to the Novye Izvestia newspaper on the problems and prospects of Russian gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

Alexey Belogoriev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, notes that European countries are now actively trying to replace Russian gas with other supplies. Europe still has good LNG offers, plus a fairly strong supply of Norwegian gas.

“The main difficulties will arise if LNG supplies to the European market begin to decline due to the growth in LNG consumption in Asia. This will start happening, perhaps as early as August. In the first months of autumn - it will definitely happen. And if gas supplies from Russia remain at the same low level, this will create great difficulties for European countries,” Alexey Belogoryev believes and specifies that the Europeans will have to “unpack” the gas capsules, which are now being intensively filled, before the usual time. Additional pumping of gas from underground storage facilities may begin as early as August-September.

Alexey Belogoryev adds that Western politicians and experts refuse to believe Gazprom’s version that Nord Stream has “shrinked” to the minimum supply due to technical problems and because of the story with the first turbine stuck in Canada due to sanctions.

Earlier the expert clarified that Russian gas accounted for up to 40% of gas consumption in Europe. And it is rather problematic to replace such a volume with other supplies, including LNG.