The president of Engie is calmly considering the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe next winter despite the absence of Russian gas on which the continent was dependent before the invasion of Ukraine, a-t- he said in an interview with La Tribune on Tuesday. “At this stage, we are confident that we will get through next winter without major difficulties. We will have to manage to recover the energy savings of the previous winter and be very attentive to access to LNG, ”said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu to the economic newspaper.
After the Russian gas supply to Western Europe was stopped by gas pipeline, the latter “managed to get through the winter (…) largely thanks to the reduction in energy consumption, which was remarkable: 13% for gas, excluding climate effect during the winter of 2022/2023”, welcomed the boss of the French energy company. “For the moment, the indicators are green. On average, between 150 and 160 LNG ships land each month in Europe, compared to 40 before the crisis,” noted Jean-Pierre Clamadieu.
“We have also maximized import capacities via gas pipeline outside Russia, in particular from Norway, which has become Europe’s leading gas supplier. Today, we are at just over 50% filling rate of European storage levels, which is unheard of. In France, we are around 35%. We are not under tension at all,” reassured the leader. At the beginning of April, the United States and the EU indicated that they wanted to maintain LNG deliveries to Europeans at “a high level” in 2023, the doubling of which last year helped the Twenty-Seven to reduce their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons. .
The United States exported some 56 billion cubic meters of LNG to the EU in 2022, compared to 22 billion in 2021, a jump of 140%. Brussels had then indicated that the Europeans’ gas reserves were 56% full, in line with its forecast of around 50% expected for the end of winter, and at a level almost twice as high as that usually observed at this time of year. The Twenty-Seven have set themselves the objective of filling their reserves to 90% by November.
