The emergence of speculative capital in the European gas market leads to increased volatility of prices in the region. This was stated by the head of Gazprom. Alexey Miller during the plenary session of the International Gas Forum in St. Petersburg.
"There is a rejection of long-term contracts at predictable prices. On the other hand, a new big serious player has appeared. New rules of the game and new trading algorithms have appeared. Today, European investment funds are “long“ positions volumes on the scale of 25 billion cubic meters of gas, which corresponds to a quarter of all the gas pumped into underground storage in the European Union”, he said.
The average annual gas price in Europe by the end of 2024 is twice the average price for the period 2016-2020, Miller noted. Fluctuations in European gas prices during the day reached 15% after the suspension of gas supplies from Russia, while during the period of COVID-19 these values reached only 10%. In August - September 2024, prices increased by 25%, added the head of "Gazprom".
At the same time, Kazakhstan plans to develop its own gas extraction and processing as a priority, but the country must continue the policy of strategic partnership with Russia's "Gazprom". "The priority, of course, is the development of own deposits. It is necessary to build own gas processing enterprises. And, of course, to continue the policy aimed at continuing the strategic partnership with "Gazprom"". This was stated by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Sklyar at the international gas forum in St. Petersburg.
Sklyar recalled that Kazakhstan processes gas from a deposit in the West Kazakhstan region at the Orenburg gas processing plant. "This cooperation will continue and strengthen. We are interested in the Orenburg gas processing plant fulfilling its obligations to us. We, in turn, will fulfill our obligations in terms of delivery volumes. We are constantly working on this“, explained the first deputy head of the government of the republic. He also noted that Kazakhstan has no unresolved issues with its partners from Gazprom, cooperation is developing.