Summary

Europe’s growing LNG demand has become a central element in the globalisation of LNG markets. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine abruptly changed the EU’s gas policy, with a push now to replace Russian gas with other sources of supply. While Russian pipeline gas is expected to continue to flow to key European buyers, its share of Europe’s gas supply is falling. LNG is the only alternative supply source that can scale up over the coming years.

European LNG imports have hit record highs in 2022, with a number of terminals running at full capacity. In light of this, Europe is rushing to develop new infrastructure, primarily through FSRUs, alongside existing onshore terminal expansions. This could lead to a 15% rise in European regasification capacity by the end of 2023.

However, Europe’s main issue is the lack of new global LNG production over the next three-to-four years. This means the region will be in greater competition with other LNG buyers, especially in Asia, for existing volume as the market waits for new production to be developed.

City and Financial Global’s European LNG Summit will address how Europe’s LNG demand can be met and the role of new infrastructure in meeting this demand. This will be achieved by bringing together senior government officials and regulators, c-suite representatives of both buyers and suppliers of LNG from the US, Middle East (Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia) and Africa, financiers of LNG, logistics experts and LNG shipping companies. The programme reflects the boardroom agenda of leading industry players.

Key themes to be discussed

  • Where will increased supply of LNG to Europe come from?
  • What improvements in EU infrastructure would LNG suppliers like to see?
  • Long term contracts - time for reform?
  • LNG demand to 2030 and 2040. Implications for liquefaction and regasification facilities
  • LNG shipping - Will there be enough ships to meet growing demand?
  • How will banks balance financing natural gas demand and their ESG commitments?
  • New LNG technology initiatives to speed up development of liquefaction, keep costs under control and decarbonise