The United States pointed to the country's inability to cover the gas shortage in Europe and Ukraine.

American suppliers will not be able to fill the gas shortage in Ukraine and Europe in winter. This was stated at a briefing on June 11 by Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Washington-based Association of American Producers of Liquefied Natural Gas CNLG.

According to him, Europe's underground blue fuel storage facilities are only 42% full. This is the lowest figure since 2018.

"Europe's goal, as a rule, at the end of the injection season is to fill its UGS facilities to about 90%. I have seen analysts' forecasts according to which reaching the 70% level will be considered a success," Riedl said.

He also pointed out that interruptions in LNG supplies from the Persian Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict between the United States and Israel with Iran have worsened the situation in the energy market. According to him, American producers are working in excess of their design capacity, but they will not be able to compensate for the falling production volumes in the region.

"We will face a scenario in which the market — in a broader sense, not only in Europe, but also in the Asian market as a whole — will experience a shortage of supplies. We will not be able to make up for the loss of production that is currently taking place in the Persian Gulf," he added, as quoted by TASS..

Riedl stressed that the market situation remains extremely tense, and providing Europe with the necessary LNG volumes will be a serious challenge. At the same time, he noted that, despite the presence of large underground gas storage facilities in Ukraine, the United States currently does not have additional volumes to fill them.

Fuel supply: global gas prices may rise by 50% in summer%

Experts cite an abnormally hot summer and an increase in demand for this fuel in Asia and Europe as reasons.

Gazprom announced on April 3 that the level of gas reserves in Ukraine's underground storage facilities had reached an absolute minimum for the entire observation period. According to the company, as of March 31, the volume of gas in storage was 5.4 billion cubic meters. m, taking into account the buffer gas. The publication noted that fuel reserves were at an all-time low.