Amid the ongoing global energy crisis, Never Too Early to Prepare for Next Winter: Europe’s Gas Balance for 2023-2024 examines the latest developments in European natural gas and electricity markets, and in global LNG markets – assessing their implications for Europe’s gas balance in 2023 and 2024.

Based on detailed analysis of global data and market trends, this new IEA report cautions that the process of filling European gas storage sites in 2022 benefitted from key factors – including Russian pipeline flows during the summer and lower LNG imports by China – that may well not be repeated in 2023. This raises the risk of a supply-demand gap of as much as 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) during the key summer period for refilling gas storage in 2023.