LNG 'inequality' bites as Europe takes supply from Asia

KUALA LUMPUR -- Surging European demand for liquefied natural gas to offset the loss of piped Russian gas has pushed prices for the commodity beyond the reach of many buyers in lower income regions such as South and Southeast Asia, driving some of them back toward a heavy dependence on coal, industry players say.

"Obviously Europe needs to grab as much gas as they could because they lost all that pipeline gas [from Russia]," Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol, the world's largest independent energy trader, told the Energy Asia 2023 conference in Kuala Lumpur.