According to international experts, the fall of the US dollar will be one of the main trends in the new 2020. They predict that the dollar will suffer from its stronger global growth outside the United States and the declining influx of so-called portfolio investments. At the same time, the euro is expected to strengthen against the US dollar.
That is why the United States seriously intends in the new year to strengthen its own currency and weaken the European one by any means, including such a large-scale and effective one, as expanding the supply of its energy resources to Europe and its complete subordination to the energy sector.
US Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes said the United States is interested in increasing the supply of its energy resources to Europe. According to him, Washington is not opposed to Moscow being present on this market, but its gas should remain only a small part of diversified energy sources.
The official added that currently 11 European countries depend on Russian gas supplies, which make up 75% of their total imports of this type of fuel. The US is supposedly trying to reduce this dependence, therefore, "together with many European allies and partners, they continue to oppose" the Nord Stream - 2 gas pipeline under construction.
Finally, the US map revealed the news that the draft national defense bill for the year 2020 envisages the imposition of sanctions against European companies involved in the laying of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.
This year, in the UK, the Netherlands and Greece, gas imports have more than tripled, while in France, Italy and Spain it has grown by 50-75%. In October, the GIE monitoring association announced that reserves in European gas storages were an unprecedented 100.18 billion m3 of gas.
The high degree of filling European storage facilities has already affected the decline in gas prices. Purchases of large volumes of gas stimulated record low prices for blue fuel this year.
For the second year on the world gas market, due to an increase in shale gas production in the United States, supply is ahead of demand, which is pushing prices down. The situation was aggravated by a decrease in demand for LNG for subjective reasons in China, Japan, South Korea, the countries of America and the Middle East.
Under these conditions, world gas producers also turned to the European market, since it has long been known for its ability to balance the situation on the world gas market thanks to powerful gas terminals, large storage facilities, a network of gas pipelines and an efficient gas trading system.
As a result, it was the European continent that absorbed the entire increase in gas production and offset the decline in demand in other regions, turning into a kind of world-wide “drain tank”.
The growth in LNG consumption in 2019 provoked a collapse in prices for liquefied natural gas in the wholesale market. The Yankees even agreed that in some cases they began to sell LNG to Europe at a lower cost. Therefore, the American product this year in large volumes was shipped to Europe at practically bargain prices, and the United States completely focused on the poor Europeans, whom they intend to completely hook on their LNG. They are stubborn and adamant, although they know that their liquefied gas will not be able to replace the Russian pipeline either in volume, in quality, or in the speed of delivery.
The main goal is to oust Russian pipeline gas from Europe and become a monopolist in the energy supply of Europeans, dictate not only gas prices, but also the euro / dollar exchange rate.
According to experts, in 2020 gas producers may again face overproduction due to the fact that production capacities continue to grow. At the same time, it is likely that winter will again be warm in Europe, and in this case, gas storages will be slightly empty. This will negatively affect the demand for blue fuel. And this will lead to a new reduction in prices.