World gas consumption had a historic drop of 1.6% in 2022, as a result of the war in Ukraine and the interruption of part of Russian gas supplies to Europe, according to preliminary data from a specialized association.
World gas consumption has dropped to 4 trillion m³, “in a context of unprecedented energy crisis and high inflation”, said in a statement dated May 15 to Cedigaz, an international association specializing in reporting on issues related to the subject.
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The drop can be classified as historic, the association told AFP on Wednesday, after a record increase of 4.5% in 2021 and a decrease of 2% in 2020, a very particular year, marked by the pandemic.
The year 2022 will be remembered as “the worst natural gas and energy crisis in history, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, pointed out Cedigaz, which has a hundred members in 40 countries. In 2022, there was “the sharpest drop in the history of gas consumption in the European Union (EU), by 13%, to 353 billion m³”, according to the association.
Significant declines were also recorded in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Ukraine (-4.6%), as well as in Asia-Oceania (-1.6%), in contrast to North America and the Middle East Medium, where consumption has increased.
According to the association, the drop in consumption was due to a boreal winter with mild temperatures, which weighed on “demand for gas from the residential-commercial sector” in the northern hemisphere, the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the explosion in gas prices, which slowed down the demand in the industry.
Regarding Russian gas, which until recently had “a predominant role” in European energy supply, its pipeline exports to Europe “fell to the lowest level since the mid-1980s, resulting in a loss of 77 billion m³, the equivalent of to 20% of the EU’s gas consumption in 2021”, highlighted Cedigaz.
World production of natural gas remained stable. “The sharp loss in Russian gas sales was offset by strong production growth in the United States (+41 billion m³), thanks to a “rapid boost in the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG)”.
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