According to Bloomberg: The surge in demand for natural gas in Europe has led to a sharp rise in prices, which has devastated developing economies in other parts of the world, and this devastation can drag on for years.
"Energy security concerns in Europe are leading to energy poverty in emerging markets," Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg. "Europe is sucking gas from other countries at any cost."
The fact is that European countries can afford to pay a surcharge for natural gas, while poorer countries, such as Pakistan or Bangladesh, do not have the money to afford such a surcharge. Pakistan, by the way, is already suffering from power outages most of the day, and it is unlikely that this will change in the near future due to exorbitantly high LNG prices.
"Suppliers don't need to focus on securing their LNG in low—availability markets," Wood Mackenzie analyst Raghav Mathur told Bloomberg. Moreover, the spot market is currently so profitable that producers can violate their long-term contracts and afford to pay fines with money earned in this market.
The situation is unlikely to change in the near future. On the contrary, Europe is building LNG import terminals, which means that the current level of demand can be maintained for a longer period, despite the EU's bold ambitions to reduce emissions.
And this means that energy supply problems in emerging economies may continue for a longer period as they are forced to compete for limited LNG supplies with some of the world's richest economies.
Meanwhile, Russia is happy to supply LNG to Pakistan, which is also happy to accept it. As the Pakistani ambassador to Russia recently told the TASS news agency: "If rich countries take all the LNG, what will happen to us?"