The main gas supplier to Europe has failed

An accident occurred at Norway's largest field. Production fell by almost 30%. The European market, which needs additional tens of billions of cubic meters this year, reacted immediately.

There was a malfunction at the Trol field in the North Sea. Production decreased by almost 30% - from 125 million cubic meters per day to 90 million cubic meters. According to the operator of the Norwegian GTS Gassco, at the beginning the state—owned company Equinor indicated problems with external power supply, then a malfunction on the compressor. It is expected that the problem will be solved before May 30. At least on this date indicate the end of the work.

The incident at Norway's largest field immediately led to a drop in gas supplies to Europe. If on May 25 exports amounted to 282 million cubic meters, then on May 26 — 249 million cubic meters.

The European market immediately reacted to a decrease in gas supply from the main supplier, which Norway became after a decrease in Russian gas exports due to sanctions and counter-sanctions. Gas supplies for a month in advance from the TTF exchange have risen in price to $ 443 per thousand cubic meters.

The increase turned out to be small (up to $ 10), as preventive repairs are underway in Norway at the Nyhamna plant and the Aasta Hansten field. And Equinor can now compensate for losses at the expense of maintenance facilities.

Gassco indicates that on May 27, exports from Norway will already amount to 276 million cubic meters.

However, the news about the failure of the main supplier The EU has added to the concern of European traders. Due to the large gas extraction in winter and the stop of Ukrainian transit to storage facilities The EU should additionally pump up to 30 billion cubic meters this year. While new LNG projects will bring just over 25 billion cubic meters to the market, which may also be of interest to Asian countries.

The EU has not yet reached the required pace, but so far the maximum LNG supplies are facilitated by fairly mild weather in Asia and high gas prices.

Earlier, Goldman Sachs Group said that Europe can provide enough LNG to replenish storage facilities for next winter, but the region will face competition from Asia if prices fall.

"We believe that prices should remain at the current level or slightly higher in order to kill the demand for LNG outside Europe," Samantha Dart, co—head of global commodities research at the investment bank, told Bloomberg. —If LNG becomes too cheap this summer, you will see other consumers start buying it."