OREANDA-NEWS  Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still the only type of fuel whose supplies from Russia to Europe have increased by the end of 2022. NOVATEK increased LNG supplies to Europe from the Yamal LNG plant by about 13.5%, while insignificant volumes from Gazprom's Port LNG plant also contributed to the total volume of supplies. The reduction in the supply of Russian pipeline gas to the EU has led to the fact that the share of LNG in Russian gas exports, previously insignificant, according to analysts, has increased to 25%. Despite the reduction of Gazprom's pipeline supplies to Europe, exports of liquefied natural gas to the EU, on the contrary, grew throughout 2022. Thus, NOVATEK's Yamal LNG plant increased supplies to the EU by about 13.5%, to 14.65 million tons, Kommersant calculated based on data from the Kpler analytical system. About 0.7 million tons more came to the continent from NOVATEK's Cryogaz-Vysotsk project. Also, so far insignificant volumes have left Gazprom's Port LNG project launched in September — about 0.35 million tons, which were mainly delivered to Greece (the last cargoes from this LNG plant were sent to Turkey).

As for the Asian direction, where spot prices throughout the year were lower than in Europe, supplies from Gazprom's Sakhalin-2 project in the Far East, according to Kommersant's calculations, increased by about 2%, to 10.64 million tons, NOVATEK reduced supplies to Asia from Yamal LNG" by 7%, to about 5.1–5.3 million tons.

NOVATEK did not respond to request, Gazprom declined to comment.

Despite the ban on coal imports and the oil embargo, EU countries have not imposed general restrictions on the purchase of Russian pipeline gas and LNG, although some countries have announced the rejection of such purchases. After Gazprom restricted supplies via gas pipelines, Europe had to buy more LNG at ultra-high prices from factories around the world, including the Russian Federation, in order to have time to fill underground storage facilities by winter.

According to Maria Belova from Vygon Consulting, by the end of 2022, Europe, including Turkey, imported about 125 million tons of LNG, Russia accounted for about 13% of this volume.

"Of course, Russian LNG has played a significant role in the European gas market in 2022. The deficit balance was reduced only by reducing gas consumption, and the absence of 20 billion cubic meters of LNG supplies from Russia could play a critical role during the gas injection season in UGS," said Sergey Kapitonov, an expert at the Center for Energy Transfer and ESG of Skoltech. Against the background of a decrease in the volume of Russian exports of pipeline gas to Europe, the share of LNG in total Russian supplies has increased markedly, exceeding 25% of total gas and LNG supplies (instead of 7% a year earlier), independent expert Alexander Sobko notes.

At the end of the year, Russia ranked third in terms of LNG supplies to Europe, behind the United States and Qatar. The UK and the Baltic states have stopped buying Russian LNG, but demand has increased from Spain, which has increased purchases by 45% year-on-year, according to data from the Spanish energy company Enagas.