African gas suppliers look to meet Europe’s future LNG demand

As the EU works to rebalance its gas supply away from Russia, African countries are expected to gain a larger share of the bloc’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) market in the coming years.

Last month the EU announced that it would launch the first tenders for joint gas purchases in April, with contracts expected to be signed by June. This novel approach seeks to leverage the bloc’s purchasing power to secure supplies at lower prices ahead of the summer when EU countries are expected to refill their underground gas storage. 

Common purchases of gas are available to all EU member states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkans. 

The EU’s joint gas purchases are expected to bring new supplies from the US, the Middle East and Africa, including established African suppliers like Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria. Other emerging LNG exporters on the continent, such as Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania, could also benefit from this shift. 

To enable additional LNG imports, the EU is undertaking significant capacity expansion. From January 2022 to February 2023 it commissioned 35.5bn cu metres of gas import capacity across eight LNG terminal projects. 

The bloc is developing some 198.5bn cu metres per year of additional LNG import capacity in projects set to come on-line through to 2026.