By Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) – Europe’s need to refill storages, left two-thirds empty after the winter, will keep the gas market tight and require a rise in liquefied natural gas supply, the CEO Anders Opedal of Equinor, the continent’s largest gas supplier, said on Wednesday.
European gas storage sites ended the winter heating season at their lowest level since 2022 as a result of colder weather and lower wind speeds, which increased demand for gas.
Opedal said Europe would need around 200-300 more cargoes of LNG than last year.
“In Europe, gas storages are at a low level and we expect a tight market when these are being replenished,” he said when presenting the company’s first-quarter earnings, which were lifted by higher gas prices.
Equinor sends its gas via a vast pipeline system, with 70% of volumes sold on a day-ahead basis, and ships LNG from its own plant in Hammerfest in Arctic Norway, also known as Melkoeya.
The latter shut down on April 22 for annual maintenance scheduled to last until July 19.
Equinor in 2022 overtook Russia’s Gazprom as Europe’s biggest supplier of natural gas when Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted decades-long energy ties, but speculation has increased over a potential return of some Russian pipeline gas.
Opedal said the latter was “a possibility, but it’s a low probability, I think, and the volumes will be limited”.
In February, Equinor pegged additional Russian volume potential at 40 billion cubic metres per year, a figure that stands, Opedal said.
“But that also requires a lot of change in politics to start up the Nord Stream pipeline and then also open up the Yamal pipeline over Poland again, and also the Ukraine pipeline needs to re-open,” he added.
(Reporting by Nora Buli; editing by Barbara Lewis)
