On Monday 27 October, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) revealed that between July and September 2025, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) increased by 38% compared with the same period the previous year. This is against a backdrop of strong demand for storage injection (in the EU and Ukraine) and low Russian pipeline supply.
The report on EU gas wholesale markets in the third quarter of 2025 also indicates that although import volumes have increased, LNG prices have fallen, as demand from other major buyers, such as China and Japan, has remained stable and global LNG production has increased.
Furthermore, ACER indicates that as LNG’s supply share has grown, gas flows have adapted to markets with limited access to LNG. There has been a shift in gas flows eastwards, towards Central and Eastern Europe, reflecting signals from the wholesale market: “from lower- to higher-priced hubs”.
This means that “price differences between hubs in Western Europe and those in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe stayed elevated for a second consecutive quarter”, explains ACER.
More broadly, gas consumption remained similar to that of the third quarter of 2024 and around 19% lower than the average for the five years preceding the energy crisis (2017-2021).
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/j6n (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)