Gas price disorder with the possibility that Europe will stop it from Russia

Natural gas prices in Europe have seen fluctuations amid reports that the European Union is studying the gradual disposal of Russian liquid gas under a new package of sanctions. The future contracts ranged between small profits and losses on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported a report on the discussions. The import of liquid natural gas can take place under a penalty or within a road map that will be provided by the executive arm of the European Union next month, according to people who are familiar with the matter. While gas flow has taken from Russia to Europe over the past few years, they imported record quantities of liquid gas out of the country in 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin pays particular attention to natural gas and promises to continue his country’s exports despite the growing restrictions. In a research note, Warren Patterson, head of the commodity strategy at the ING group and Iowa Manethi, the bank’s basic commodity analyst, wrote: “A possible ban on Russian liquid gas will lead to an increase in uncertainty over the offer in the European market, which can provide some support for prices.” In 2024, about 18% of the LNG came from the European Union from Russia. According to the officials and diplomats on the discussion, the European Union must continue to decide whether to rely on a legally binding sanctions, organizations within the framework of a road map or a mix of these two options. Imports of the import of Russian liquid gas, while ten countries from the European Union demanded this week to ban the import of Russian liquid gas, these calls did not come through the largest fuel import countries, such as Spain, France and Belgium. Last week, the United States set sanctions on two small Russian LNG projects, namely Borutovaya and Vesutsk. While Europe has succeeded in diversifying its energy supplies since the crisis of 2022, which makes the gradual disposal of Russia’s fuel less challenging, this winter was a reminder that the region is still in danger. The cold weather has clouded faster than usual than gas storage sites and is expected to continue during most of the second half of January. Patricio Alvarez and Joao Martins, the two Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, wrote in a research note that gas prices could reach an average of 47 euros per megawatt hour during the year 2025, which bypasses the average consensus by about 25%. It appears that the risk of a crisis in supplies is limited, but to achieve the purpose of the European Union by filling 90% of the shares before the next winter can increase the competition for LNG with Asia, according to Patricio Alvarez and Joao Martins. The Dutch future contracts for the nearest month, seen as an important gas standard in Europe, recorded a slight increase at 47.20 euros per megawat at 09:22 Amsterdam time.