OREANDA-NEWS  European countries could remain an attractive market for Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for another 10-15 years, if not for the geopolitical factor, the demand for gas from Russia is high there, Alexey Belogoryev, Director of Research at the Institute of Energy and Finance, commented to RIA Novosti.

The European Union will not be able to completely abandon Russian gas, Bloomberg wrote on Wednesday. According to his estimates, despite the EU's plans to abandon "blue fuel" from the Russian Federation by 2027, its supplies have stopped decreasing and "dependence is now increasing slightly." Currently, the Russian Federation provides about 20% of all EU gas imports, and in 2023 - 15%. The publication also warns that if the import of Russian LNG is stopped, the European Union will have to increase purchases from other countries, which will lead to an increase in gas prices.

According to the expert, it is most cost-effective for Russia to supply liquefied natural gas to the nearest markets in Europe and Northeast Asia. "This is the shortest transportation shoulder (and this is critically important in conditions of a limited fleet of gas carriers), there is high demand and prices," he explained.

"If it were not for the geopolitical factor, Europe would remain the most attractive market for us for at least another 10-15 years," the agency interlocutor believes.

Now, as Belogoryev notes, Europe accounts for more than half of Russian LNG exports, and excluding the Sakhalin-2 project, all exports of which go to Japan, China and Korea, account for at least 75%.

The expert also added that the sanctions have not yet affected the existing Russian plants (Yamal LNG, Sakhalin-2, Portovaya LNG and Cryogaz-Vysotsk). At the same time, they provide almost the entire increase in supplies.

The European Union actively began to impose sanctions against Russia after the start of a special operation in Ukraine in February 2022, and this caused a sharp jump in gas prices. An additional factor for the high prices of "blue fuel" in the region was the undermining of the "Northern Streams" in September of the same year. Demand for liquefied natural gas has increased, and the United States has become its main supplier to the European Union, occupying almost half of the market, and their revenues from these supplies reached 48.3 billion euros in 2022 against 7 billion a year earlier.

Russia initially sent small volumes of LNG to the EU, but supplies grew and by the end of seven months of this year took up almost 19% of total imports.