Therese Robinson

The Biden administration’s temporary pause on new U.S LNG export permits has for now derailed an anticipated wave of new volumes that was expected to hit the market later this decade, prompting major global gas buyers to explore other options.

LNG ships are still avoiding transit in the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Europe or Asia and instead diverting around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks from Yemen-based Houthis militants.

National Grid plc has boosted long-term LNG supply to the UK from the United States and North Africa with two contracts as it expands imports at its Grain LNG terminal.

Natural gas imports will continue to play an important part in the UK’s energy mix despite a plan recently launched by the government for nuclear power assets to generate 25% of the country’s electricity by 2050. 

Norway has awarded 62 offshore drilling licenses from the country’s 2023 auction, expanding explorable acreage in the Arctic and potentially locking in decades of oil and natural gas supply for European allies.

The United States has become the world’s largest LNG exporter, while China again surpassed Japan as the biggest importer last year, according to Kpler. 

Poland has broken free of its dependence on Russian energy supplies, increasing both its natural gas pipeline and LNG imports from other suppliers.  

The Netherlands became the third-largest European LNG importer last year, after France and Spain, as U.S. liquefied natural gas imports flooded Dutch LNG facilities.  

Asian spot LNG prices reached a seven month low in January, dropping below $10/MMBtu, bringing cost-sensitive buyers like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Thailand back to the spot market.

As the year draws to a close, earnings from Russia’s most valuable company, Gazprom PJSC, are forecast to fall nearly 40% from 2022 levels to around $24.3 billion.