Page 7 - GLNG Week 02 2023

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

as the heating season approaches fears will form are political problems with ramping up the use of
that there is not enough time to fill them again coal too much.
due to the even lower Russian deliveries. Investment into renewables and reducing
There is still time to prepare for the next consumption through cuts and better energy
energy crisis, but there are still no easy fixes and efficiency can be tossed into the pot and the IEA
plenty of uncertainty over how energy needs in and other NGOs are strongly pushing for these
Europe will play out over the coming year. sorts of measures as amongst the most effective
Going into the next cycle there are a lot of and environmentally friends.
unknowns. What is not clear is whether Russia And finally the weather will play an extremely
will continue to send gas through Ukraine to important role: how cold will the remainder of
Europe. Also unknown is how much LNG will the winter be? How hot the coming the summer?
be available, given China’s expected economic And will the winter be bitter or balmy? All of
recovery. European companies are signing those which can have a major impact on gas in storage
long-term contracts with the US to try to lock in at every stage of the year.
reliable supplies and so reduce the amount of gas The IEA set out a series of practical actions
they have to buy from the open, swing suppliers that Europe can take to build on the impressive
and replace the formerly reliable Russian piped progress that has already been made in 2022 in
gas. reducing reliance on Russian gas supplies and
The availability of alternative sources of filling gas storage. But its report also warns that
energy will make a difference too. France is the 2023 energy crisis could yet prove to be an
racing to repair its NPPs, but that is reportedly “even sterner test” for Europe than last year
going slowly. Germany has restarted many of because Russian supplies could fall further,
its coal-fired power stations, but sourcing coal, global supplies of LNG will be tight and the
which Europe used to be even more reliant on weather outlook remains uncertain.™
Russia for than gas, is also a problem. Plus the
demonstrations this week in German show there

Week 02 12•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P7