Energy trader Vitol reported higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes for the last year due to higher demand in Europe.
Vitol said in its full-year report that its traded LNG volumes increased to 17.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (14.4 million tonnes of LNG) as the company’s portfolio “responded to increased demand from Europe and in Q4 European destinations accounted for 67 percent of Vitol’s LNG volumes.”
The Geneva-based firm, which entered the LNG market in 2006, reported LNG volumes of 12.9 million tonnes in 2021, 10 million tonnes in 2020, and 10.5 million tonnes in 2019.
Vitol’s 2022 turnover surged to $505 billion in 2022 when compared to $279 billion in 2021 due to high prices, while it delivered 7.4 million barrels a day of crude oil and products, compared to 7.6 million barrels a day in 2021.
The company’s crude oil volumes fell slightly to 199.5 million tonnes when compared to 200.5 million tonnes in 2021 as the company exited contracts and ceased trading Russian crude in June 2022, it said.
Vitol said oil flows were significantly impacted by the Russia-Ukraine war and the subsequent sanctions, both voluntary and mandatory.
“Tightness” in LNG to continue
According to Vitol, the supply of LNG is “critical to ensuring near term energy security in many regions.”
“High prices during 2022 pushed a number of Asian buyers and economies out of the market and resulted in increased coal burn,” it said.
Vitol expects “this tightness in LNG to continue until 2026, when significant new production capacity will come online, equivalent to 50% of supply in 2022.”
This new supply will originate in the US, Qatar and Africa, and developing Asian economies will primarily consume these supplies, enabling them to underpin economic growth and move away from coal, the firm said.