Competition on the LNG Market - Consequences for the EU

Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess the impact of the natural gas sector's gradual transition towards a globally-traded commodity market for EU economies. The literature review provides evidence of regulatory, technological and business practice changes that have led to the development of a global gas market. A statistical analysis of the price spreads between the regions and of the differences in the LNG shipment costs is performed to verify whether competition over cargoes at a global level observed over the last years is not temporary. The results confirm that the market-based price indices have become a more relevant and popular form of price reference for short and long-term LNG supply contracts than oil indexation. The author concludes that the transition from regional markets to a global market has brought multiple benefits to EU economies that can be largely lost if Asian economies will be ready to pay substantial premiums for LNG cargoes in the future.