Russia Got Ahead Of US In Gas Supplies To EU

For the first time in almost two years.

In May, gas supplies from Russia to Europe exceeded fuel imports from the US for the first time since September 2022. This follows from the data of the ICIS consulting company, which was published by the Financial Times.

Since 2023, the US share in the European gas market has been about 20 per cent. But in May this year it fell to 14% of total imports to the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, as well as Northern Macedonia.

At the same time, the share of Russian gas on the European market increased to 15 per cent of total imports. The change occurred due to increased supplies of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to the FT, this was influenced by "one-off factors", including a breakdown at a major US LNG export facility and an increase in pumping through Turkey ahead of planned maintenance in June by Russia.

The increase in Russian supplies came amid relatively weak demand in Europe, as fuel stock levels are close to record highs for this time of year, the FT noted.

The current change in supply is "unlikely to last long" as Russia will be able to deliver LNG via the Northern Sea Route to Asia in the summer, says ICIS head of gas analytics Tom Marzec-Manser.

"Russia has limited flexibility to hold this share [in Europe] as demand [for gas] will increase next winter, while overall U.S. LNG production is only increasing and more capacity will come on stream globally by the end of the year," Marzec-Manser said.

According to Bloomberg estimates, Russia continues to supply gas to Europe at around 15 billion cubic metres of fuel a year. Exports go through Ukraine and Turkey. The fuel is mainly exported to Austria and Slovakia. European countries also buy Russian LNG by sea. At that, the EU announced plans to stop using Russian gas completely by 2027.