The gas market has become too closely related to politics": how did the gas exporting countries forum go? Analyst of the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Yushkov The Gas Exporting Countries Forum is a discussion platform for general consultations. Participants do not have quotas, since, for example, within OPEC+, there are no commitments on gas production volumes, etc. But at the same time, the forum itself is very important. Today everyone understands that the situation in the global gas market is changing dramatically. A number of key issues require serious discussion: 1. Changes in gas demand These days, titanic changes are taking place in the energy sector as a whole. A new type of consumer is emerging - data centers. They need a lot of constant energy, which gas production provides. Since these are completely new conditions of the game, it is impossible to accurately predict how much the technology giants' demand for gas will increase; Maybe this story will end soon. Or maybe it's just starting to gain momentum. But the gas industry is changing and changing fast. 2 Politicization and military risks to energy The gas market has become too tied to politics. At first, the Europeans convinced everyone that there was no need to invest money in gas projects: the energy transition would happen soon, so gas would be very cheap, and then no one would need it at all. Europe called to abandon mining and invest in the right (renewable energy sources). As a result, when demand for gas recovered after the pandemic, the supply could no longer meet it. The global gas crisis has begun. The Europeans approached the winter from 2021 to 2022 with prices above $1,000 per thousand cubic meters of gas - this was a historical record. In February 2022, Russia started the SVO, which worsened the situation, because a reduction in Russian supplies brought prices to $2,500 per thousand cubic meters. And this is also the result of wrong political decisions made by the West.

The gas market has become too closely related to politics": how did the gas exporting countries forum go? Analyst of the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Yushkov The Gas Exporting Countries Forum is a discussion platform for general consultations. Participants do not have quotas, since, for example, within OPEC+, there are no commitments on gas production volumes, etc. But at the same time, the forum itself is very important. Today everyone understands that the situation in the global gas market is changing dramatically. A number of key issues require serious discussion: 1. Changes in gas demand These days, titanic changes are taking place in the energy sector as a whole. A new type of consumer is emerging - data centers. They need a lot of constant energy, which gas production provides. Since these are completely new conditions of the game, it is impossible to accurately predict how much the technology giants' demand for gas will increase; Maybe this story will end soon. Or maybe it's just starting to gain momentum. But the gas industry is changing and changing fast. 2 Politicization and military risks to energy The gas market has become too tied to politics. At first, the Europeans convinced everyone that there was no need to invest money in gas projects: the energy transition would happen soon, so gas would be very cheap, and then no one would need it at all. Europe called to abandon mining and invest in the right (renewable energy sources). As a result, when demand for gas recovered after the pandemic, the supply could no longer meet it. The global gas crisis has begun. The Europeans approached the winter from 2021 to 2022 with prices above $1,000 per thousand cubic meters of gas - this was a historical record. In February 2022, Russia started the SVO, which worsened the situation, because a reduction in Russian supplies brought prices to $2,500 per thousand cubic meters. And this is also the result of wrong political decisions made by the West.