Europe paid extra for the "molecules of freedom": $ 751 million per quarter

In 2024, the difference in the price of Russian and American gas for Europe has increased. This is evidenced by the statistics.

Eurostat has published a report on gas imports to the European Union in the second quarter of 2024. Statistical Service The EU indicates that in April-June, 23.7 billion euros were spent on blue fuel from abroad. This is more than a third less than a year earlier.

Judging by the data, the US share of money turned out to be higher than the Russian one, although the supply of pipeline gas and LNG from Russia exceeded LNG exports from the USA to the EU countries. So, from the other side of the Atlantic, 12.2 billion cubic meters were delivered in the form of LNG, and from Russia — 12.8 billion cubic meters, according to Breugel. As a result, the share of domestic suppliers in EU imports increased to 18.6%, while American suppliers decreased to 17.7%.

At the same time, the payment for the American "molecules of freedom" amounted to 4.28 billion euros, and for the Russian — 3.79 billion euros. For every thousand cubic meters, this is a difference of 15% or 55 euros (296 euros and 351 euros).

Thus, only in the second quarter the difference in the cost of gas from Russia and the United States amounted to 671 million euros ($ 751 million at the current exchange rate).

In the second quarter of 2023, the difference was less significant. The average price of American LNG was 482 euros per thousand cubic meters, and Russian — 476 euros.

On the one hand, most of the volumes of pipeline gas and LNG from Russia is supplied under long-term contracts with a price formula linked to European quotations, and American LNG is sold on the free market. On the other hand, discounts could be provided for spot deliveries of Russian LNG this year.

According to calculations based on Eurostat data, pipeline gas generally cost European consumers more than LNG this year — 350 euros against 330. Perhaps this is due to long-term contracts under which Europe receives most of the fuel and is obliged to select volumes. This was also another reason why the US reduced exports to the EU and redirected large volumes to Asia. In the second quarter, shipments from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean sank by 20% compared to the second quarter of 2023.

Today, the export of Russian gas, which has decreased almost fivefold in recent years due to sanctions and counter-sanctions, is limited not only by political attitudes in the EU, but also by routes. It is served only through Ukraine and the Turkish Stream. At the same time, the lost volumes were mostly compensated The EU is not importing LNG, but reducing consumption: due to warm winters and high prices, which forced both ordinary Europeans and industry to save.

If in the second quarter of 2022 gas imports to the EU amounted to 94 billion cubic meters, then in April-June 2023 — already 76.5 billion cubic meters, and in 2024 — 68.7 billion cubic meters. The quarterly difference compared to the periods of Gazprom's full-fledged exports is more than 30-35 billion cubic meters, which corresponds to the volumes that the company lost in Europe.

As EADaily reported, the former president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, wrote a plan to curb the economic downturn of the EU countries. At the heart of Europe's economic problems, the author sees the cost of energy for industry, which currently has to pay 158% more for electricity and 345% more for natural gas than in the United States.

"We must abandon the illusion that only delay can preserve consensus,— writes Mario Draghi. — The delay only led to a slowdown in growth, and certainly did not lead to a consensus. We have reached a point where without action we will either have to endanger our well-being, our environment or our freedom."