Recovery of Chinese economy may keep natural gas market tight in 2023

The biggest exporter of Australia stated that the recovery of the Chinese economy may limit the natural gas market this year.

According to CEO of Woodside Energy Group Ltd. Meg O’Neill, the real consequences of abandoning strict anti-COVID restrictions will manifest themselves later. It is expected that LNG imports, which partly declined last year because of the zero-COVID policy, will eventually rise.

On Wednesday, she said that the situation in the LNG market is now extremely uncertain since such a factor as the economic activity of the Celestial Empire is being considered. O'Neill believes that after the Lunar New Year, it will be clear what is happening to the Chinese economy and what this means for LNG demand.

In Europe and Asia, prices for natural gas have fallen sharply from record levels of last year after a mild start to the winter and government efforts to control consumption. This eased the concerns of a global fuel shortage.