FX.co ★ EU seeks to increase natural gas supply to replace Russian gas imports

Global energy producers are expanding production as prices have soared due to a boycott of Russian oil and natural gas.

Major natural gas exporters, such as Qatar, Canada, Norway, and even Iran, strive to take advantage of skyrocketing natural gas prices. Russia, which is the second-biggest producer of fossil fuel after the US, remains on the sidelines. An energy embargo would force Moscow to exchange commodities for food and goods, or export energy to China at discount prices.

Governments across Europe are greenlighting local energy producers to expand production. Recently, Norway has given a go-ahead to Equinor to increase natural gas production at its Troll, Oseberg, and Heidrun fields. This would allow it to maintain high production during the summer months, the company noted. Gas exports from Oseberg and Troll would be expanded by about 1 billion cubic meters each in the period up to Sept. 30, 2022. Production from Heidrun would increase by 0.44 billion cubic meters for the year 2022.

Together, Equinor and Gazprom cover 60% of EU natural gas needs. Earlier, the Norwegian company announced it would halt trading in Russian oil.