Equinor predicts winter gas supply shortage, reaffirms E&P plans at autumn conference

(Bloomberg) – A harsh winter would push Asian and European consumers into competition for the same gas as supplies of the fuel are stretched, according to Equinor ASA.

“How big that fight becomes is completely dependent on the weather,” Equinor Chief Executive Officer Anders Opedal said in an interview at the company’s autumn conference on Tuesday. He does not foresee the extreme volatility seen in 2022, but said small changes in the market will have a big impact on prices because “we are right at the edge when it comes to the supply-demand curve.”

Norway’s biggest oil and gas company has said that it plans to spend between 60 billion kroner ($5.7 billion) and 70 billion kroner annually through the middle of the decade to maintain supply volumes. Demand for the country’s hydrocarbons jumped following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and remain critical for the continent’s energy security. Equinor aims to supply 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually through 2035.

“No positive thing comes from supply-side shocks,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a speech at the conference. “We will continue to develop the Norwegian continental shelf as a stable and long-term supplier with an active policy of exploration.”

The amount of oil and gas coming from the shelf in 2035 will be around 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), on par with volumes pumped at the start of the decade, Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s head of Norwegian exploration and production, said in August.

Plans for drilling between 20 and 30 wildcat and appraisal wells annually off Norway are unchanged, Opedal said.