Industrial production of natural gas: characteristics of competition in the european market

Industrial production of natural gas in the European Union (EU), in the period from 2001 to 2017, decreased by almost 50%. At the same time, the analysis of the current state of the gas industry of the EU countries showed that this trend will continue in the future. There are several reasons: first, the depletion of natural gas fields in the UK; second, the decline in production in the Netherlands, due to the frequent earthquakes in the production zone; third, the refusal of shale gas production, due to serious resistance from the population and social movements. The situation is seriously complicated by the fact that the volume of natural gas consumption, since 2015, is constantly growing. The analysis of the capabilities of the main exporters showed that Russia can meet the increasing demand for natural gas in the EU. Norway, officially announced a decrease in gas production in 2018-2019, at the same time, no data on the planned production volumes, starting from 2020, no. Algeria is rapidly increasing production, but the situation is complicated by the fact that domestic demand for gas is constantly growing. Theoretically, the US is able to increase the volume of LNG supplies to the EU market, however, the cost of American gas is 40-50% higher than the cost of Russian gas.