Paris April 21 2022: Global gas demand is set to turn negative in 2022 as a result of high prices and market uncertainty, with demand expected to fall by 0.3% this year, the International Energy Agency said April 20.
In its latest quarterly market report, the IEA said global gas demand in 2022 was forecast at 4.086 Tcm compared with 4.097 Tcm last year, and was a downward revision of a previous forecast for global gas demand growth of 1% this year.
"Tight supply, high prices, and heightened market uncertainty have led to a downward revision in global gas consumption growth, which as a result is expected to turn negative for 2022," the agency said.
"The outlook remains highly uncertain, and further downsides can be expected, especially in emerging gas importing markets, as a result of lasting supply tensions, high prices and volatility." it said.
The IEA said Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 had triggered a major energy supply and security crisis that sent commodity prices to new highs, with wider implications for the global economy.
"The conflict has put further considerable pressure on gas markets and raised uncertainty in the context of an already tight market," it said.
"Europe has been at the epicenter of market tensions since the beginning of the heating season, resulting from the combination of lower than average underground storage inventory -– principally from sites partly owned or controlled by Gazprom –- and a sharp year-on-year drop in Russian pipeline supplies," it said.
Low stock levels across Europe and the need to refill them over the coming summer have contributed to record high gas prices.
Day-ahead gas on the benchmark Dutch TTF hub was priced at Eur212/MWh ($232/MWh) on March 7, an all-time high and 230% higher than the start of 2022, according to Platts price assessments by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
European storage sites were filled to 77% of capacity last summer, and storage facilities were still only 29% full as of April 18, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
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