Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

According to data released by the International Energy Agency on June 30, EU LNG imports from the United States exceeded pipeline gas imports from Russia for the first time in June.

Affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in order to counter sanctions imposed by Western countries, in June Russia drastically reduced the amount of natural gas transported to Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline. Russia also said it would suspend gas supplies to Germany in mid-July due to planned annual maintenance. In addition, Russia has stopped gas supplies to European countries such as Finland, Poland and Bulgaria.

In March this year, the European Union decided to buy an additional 15 billion cubic meters of LNG from the United States to reduce imports of Russian natural gas, and said it hoped to replace one-third of Russia's natural gas imports with liquefied natural gas from various sources. It is understood that Russia transports about 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe every year, and also exports 14 billion cubic meters to 18 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, accounting for more than 40% of the total natural gas imports in the European continent.