The Strategist

Total head forecasts deterioration of European gas market in 2023



01/30/2023 - 08:33



Patrick Pouyanné, the CEO of the French oil and gas giant Total, predicts that tensions on the European natural gas market will increase in 2023. He stated that the availability of diesel fuel might be Europe's biggest issue.



Ivan Radic
Ivan Radic
"Europe will receive less Russian gas than it did in 2022, forcing it to purchase LNG in large quantities once more. The situation will grow tense", according to Total’s CEO quoted by Bloomberg.

The CEO of a French corporation is not completely ruling out a diesel fuel scarcity in Europe. In this regard, he gave the assurance that his business will expand fuel shipments to European nations. According to Vortexa, the EU purchased 220 million barrels of Russian diesel fuel in 2022. All imports of diesel fuel from Russia to Europe would be prohibited as of February 5. China may be the primary supplier of diesel to Europe in the current situation.

Due to warm winters, full gas storages, and a rise in wind farm power generation, gas prices started to decline in European countries in January 2023. For the first time since August 2021, gas prices in Europe decreased by $600 per thousand cubic meters on January 17. At the same time, the EU spent a record-breaking €101 billion on gas in the third quarter of 2023, setting a new record for the previous ten years.

source: bloomberg.com