EQNR - Equinor CEO sees tight Europe gas supplies for two more winters

2023-03-08 14:28:55 ET

The CEO of Norwegian energy giant Equinor ( NYSE: EQNR ) said Tuesday that he expects Europe will struggle for the next two winters to replace Russian natural gas .

"There is very small spare capacity available so small changes in supply have impact," CEO Anders Opedal told the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

While he is impressed by how Europe has coped with Russia's gas cutoff, Opedal said he expects "the same uncertainty we had before this winter will repeat itself in 2024, and probably also 2025. It's only in 2026-27 that we see new meaningful new energy supplies from the U.S. and Qatar."

Europe will continue to find it difficult to secure supplies due to a revival in liquefied natural gas demand from China after it scrapped COVID restrictions, the CEO also said.

Competition from Asia for LNG supplies means European demand will depend not just of its own weather conditions but also those in Asia, Opedal added.

Equinor's ( EQNR ) current valuation is "still very low in comparison to U.S. firms, and investors should look to buy this latest pullback for a strong dividend," Kevin George writes in an analysis posted on Seeking Alpha .

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