欧洲希望今年夏天储备天然气

据油价网4月2日消息称，严冬对能源消费者来说总是坏消息。但是，对于那些生产消费者使用的能源的人来说，它们是个好消息。今年冬天也不例外:欧洲各地的恶劣天气清空了欧洲大陆的天然气储备，现在世界各地的出口商正准备应对日益增长的需求。据彭博社报道，欧洲的天然气库存比去年同期减少了250亿立方米。根据这份报告，这一数额相当于德国年消费量的三分之一左右。因为德国是欧洲最大的天然气消费国，这个数字相当可观。

幸运的是，周围有很多供应。从卡塔尔、俄罗斯到澳大利亚和美国，液化天然气生产商正准备增加对欧洲的出货量。尽管面临来自美国的制裁压力，俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司仍在准备完成北溪2号管道项目。

据路透社近日报道，继俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司之后，对欧洲的另一个主要天然气出口商Equinor表示，欧洲天然气需求在去年下降4%后，今年将增长2%。 该公司指出，2019/2020年暖冬和大流行是需求下降的原因。但今年的冬天已经远远弥补了去年的冬天。

彭博社援引一位俄罗斯能源分析师的话说，欧洲今年夏天需要储备约650亿至700亿立方米的天然气。

曹海斌 摘译自 油价网

原文如下：

Europe Looks To Stock Up On Natural Gas This Summer

Harsh winters are always bad news for energy consumers. But they are good news for those that produce the energy that consumers use. This winter has been no exception: harsh weather across Europe has emptied the continent’s gas storage, and now exporters from around the world are preparing to respond to the rising demand. Bloomberg reports that Europe’s natural gas inventories are about 25 billion cubic meters below the levels from this time last year. This amount, according to the report, is equal to about a third of Germany’s annual consumption. Because Germany is the biggest consumer of natural gas in Europe, it’s quite an impressive amount.

Luckily, there is a lot of supply around. From Qatar and Russia to Australia and the United States, LNG producers are preparing to increase shipments to Europe. And Gazprom is preparing to finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite sanction pressure from the United States.

Norway’s Equinor, the other major gas exporter to Europe after Gazprom, said it expected European natural gas demand to rise by 2 percent this year after dipping by 4 percent last year, Reuters reported recently. The company cited the mild winter of 2019/2020 and the pandemic as reasons for the decline. But this winter has more than made up for last year’s.

Europe will need to stock up some 65-70 billion cubic meters of natural gas this summer, Bloomberg reports, quoting a Russian energy analyst.