Europe should benefit, from 2025, from a significant drop in natural gas prices, thanks to the increase in supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) coming in particular from the United States and Qatar. This was announced by Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), during a conference held in Paris.
According to him, this development will mark a significant transformation of gas markets, moving from a “sellers’ market” to a “buyers’ market”. “From 2025, natural gas markets will transform into buyers’ markets rather than sellers,” said Fatih Birol.
An encouraging signal for Europeans
This prospect of a drop in gas prices, after the surges observed in 2021 and 2022, is an encouraging signal for Europeans, hard hit by the energy crisis which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Fatih Birol’s announcement gives hope for “breathing space” for European economies. “Natural gas prices will become much more reasonable,” he stressed, while emphasizing the importance of this lull in preparing the continent’s energy future.
Long-term challenges
Indeed, Fatih Birol took the opportunity to discuss longer-term challenges, calling on European governments to use this period of relative drop in prices to invest in carbon-free energies such as renewables and nuclear power. “Electricity is the future,” he said, while specifying that this transition will be crucial to reducing CO2 emissions in Europe.
Furthermore, Fatih Birol also spoke on the question of oil prices, which he also envisages being more reasonable in the years to come, despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. It highlighted the decline in global demand, particularly in China, where the transition to electric vehicles is progressing rapidly. “Even though some of you may see that there is a lot going on in the Middle East, oil prices are still at $70, in that range,” he explained, underscoring a certain stability in this market.
More sustainable solutions
Alongside the Executive Director of the IEA, the former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, was also present to present his report on the competitiveness of the European Union. Together, they insisted on the importance of preparing for the next phase of the energy transition, with a view to the future.
For Fatih Birol, it is a question of “breathing a little and making the most of these next three or four years” of relative drop in prices to strengthen investments in sustainable energy solutions.
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