European natural gas prices have continued to decline since the Nord Stream (NS) pipeline systems connected to previously vital Russian gas were damaged, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned LNG markets could be drastically impacted into next year.

In the IEA’s latest natural gas market report, researchers said the blows to Russian gas imports to Western Europe would lead to a drop in natural gas demand in Europe and a prolonged tightness in global liquefied natural gas markets.

IEA researchers forecast Europe’s LNG imports would increase in December by 60 Bcm compared with last year’s volumes. That demand is more than double worldwide LNG export capacity expansions, which could lead to higher prices as Europe battles with Asia over spot cargoes.

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