The global natural gas market is looking for its lost balance. While 2020 marked an unprecedented decline in demand for this important raw material, this year represents the opposite.
The result is a shortage of natural gas on the market, which results in an increase in its price. This has reached a seven-year high as traders bet heavily on rising demand and gas shortages over the coming winter.
Miners simply cannot meet the growing demand, as last year they limited their production due to the opposite movement of demand parties. Now they can’t feed the emptied storage tanks, and still supply the required amount of natural gas to the pipeline. One such case is Russia, which is targeting gas supplies to Europe. This is precisely due to the effort to replenish domestic supply capacities.
According to experts, restoring market balance will take time. Estimates of when this could happen range from the second half of next year to early 2023. We’d better get used to expensive natural gas.