European Gas Security: The Future of Natural Gas
The title of the post is copied from an article onThe Oil Drum blog. The two main points made are that Europe is heavily reliant on natural gas, and that the production from the European fields is either declining now, or will start to decline soon.
Natural gas provides 29% of Europe’s primary fossil fuel. Demand has increased by a factor of 19 over the last 40 years.
A supply shortfall is predicted to occur around 2013. Even the massive Russian fields are no longer increasing production, and with internal demand increasing, exports to other European countries are likely to lessen.
European demand peaks in the Northern winter, putting pressure on supplies world-wide. Even in Australia LPG prices as an automotive fuel rise in our summer because local fuel prices are set according to the Saudi contract price. Australian gas does not appear to reach Europe, but is exported mainly to Japan and China.