Natural gas supplies to Europe weaken. LNG and Norwegian gas imports at long-term lows

Deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European Union countries were at their lowest level in August since last October. Including LNG imports into the United Kingdom, they were even at their lowest level since December 2021. Natural gas supplies from the North Sea are also lower due to planned and unplanned outages, according to statistics from gas transporter Gassco. 

High supplies of natural gas from the North Sea and liquefied natural gas helped the European Union rapidly fill natural gas storage facilities this year. They were filled more than two and a half months ahead of the deadline set by the European Union.

Given current storage levels and continued lower natural gas consumption, demand for natural gas is gradually declining. This is evident from historical statistics, which suggest that liquefied natural gas deliveries in August this year were the lowest since last October.

Statistics from Argus show that natural gas consumption remains low. According to the figures, consumption in the five countries with the highest natural gas use (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy) was even at its lowest level since August 2016.

Industrial consumption across the European Union has yet to return to growth after high prices led to reduced consumption over the past two years. Another reason for low gas consumption is higher electricity generation from renewable energy sources, which is reducing gas use for power generation.

Relatively warm weather is another factor. Moreover, it is expected to persist at least until the middle of this month.

Norwegian natural gas imports affected by outages

European Union member states currently cannot fully rely on gas supplies from Norway either. According to Gassco, which operates the system responsible for transporting gas from Norway to Europe, supplies were at their lowest level since 8 September 2019. Both planned maintenance and unplanned outages are to blame.

However, the outages may only be temporary, as shown by the following Argus chart.

Flows could increase in the coming days as planned maintenance ends. With the heating season approaching, the volume of production capacity taken offline could be only a fraction of the volume currently unavailable.