Numerous risks threaten the stability of the market, according to the agency

The global supply of natural gas will remain tight this year amid a wide range of uncertainties, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Thursday.

For now, the pressure on global gas markets has eased, as there was a reduced need for storage withdrawals in Europe and the US due to the mild winter, the IEA wrote in its latest Gas Market Report.

In the first quarter of the year, spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has served as a replacement for the Russian pipeline gas, fell below the levels seen in the summer of 2021, though they still remain well above their historical averages.

The current situation, however, offers “no guarantee against future volatility,” and measures should still be implemented to mitigate risks, such as adverse weather factors, lower availability of LNG, and a potential further decline in Russian pipeline gas deliveries to the EU, the IEA warned.

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Western sanctions on Moscow led to a major gas supply shock in the European and global gas markets last year, causing deliveries of Russian pipeline gas to the EU to drop by 80% over the course of the year.

The bloc has since increased purchases of LNG from the US, which is projected to become the world’s leading LNG exporter this year.

Russia still supplies natural gas to the EU via the gas transit network of Ukraine and through the TurkStream pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine and carries Russian gas to southern Europe.

Hungary, the main importer of Russian gas in the EU, said last month that it has assurances from Moscow that gas shipments via the TurkStream pipeline will continue without disruptions.

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