Europe’s Gas Demand Implodes: LNG Imports to Plunge 20% by 2030, Russian Flows at Historic Lows
Demand Forecasts and Key Drivers Natural gas consumption is on a downward trajectory in Europe. In 2023, the EU already used 19% less gas (326 bcm) than in 2019 (404 bcm) reuters.com. New analyses predict further drops: the IEA’s Gas 2025 report expects OECD Europe’s gas demand to shrink 8–10% from 2024 to 2030 hellenicshippingnews.com. Much of the decline comes in power generation, where gas use is projected to plunge ~25% by 2030 (removing ~30 bcm of gas-to-power demand) hellenicshippingnews.com. This is because renewables (wind, solar) will flood the grid – the IEA forecasts renewable output up >40% by 2030 hellenicshippingnews.com – and