The European gas market: the life in the epoch of the Third Energy Package

The outcomes of natural gas policies of the European Union are contradictory. Gas consumption has dramatically plunged compared to its peak parameters some five to ten years ago. The declared political goals, e.g. diversification or, speaking plainly, reduction of the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, have not been achieved. On the contrary, there is a stable tendency of advance in the share of Russian gas in the European energy balance.

Introduction of norms, mechanisms of the EU single gas market in particular, has not been completed following many years of such attempts.

The situation is flavored by Brexit, because the British market system was taken as model to be followed by the entire European Union.

The new report analyses the condition of the EU gas market, considers regulation practices and new initiatives planned for introduction, reviews infrastructure projects, and assesses prospects of the European gas market in the medium term.

The report elaborates on the following issues:

• The current situation in the EU gas market

  • The demand dynamics, structure of consumption
  • Decline in domestic production, its consequences
  • Price conjuncture, approaches to contracts

• Regulation of the European gas market – first outcomes of the Third Energy Package implementation.

  • The basic model of the gas market in the EU, its introduction in particular countries
  • Withdrawal of assets from large energy companies, implications
  • Main risks of gas business operation during peak demand
  • Latest initiatives by Brussels in the sphere of gas market regulation

• Prospects of the EU gas infrastructure development

  • Nord Stream-2, transit through Ukraine
  • Southern Corridor – prospects of the TANAP and TAP projects
  • New LNG receiving capacities
  • Plans on developing the EU single gas market infrastructure

• Medium-term forecast of developments

  • Growth in demand for gas imports
  • Trends in the regulation sphere – competition or centralization?
  • Prospects of pricing: the future ratio of spot trade and long-term contracts

Contents of the report: