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European Natural Gas Markets: Resource Constraints and Market Power

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  • Gijsbert T.J. Zwart

Abstract

The European natural gas market is characterized by declining indigenous resources, particularly in the UK and the Netherlands, and a growing dependence on a small number of large exporters who, as a consequence, see their market power increasing. In this paper we analyze long-run scenarios for the European natural gas markets in a model, NATGAS, that explicitly includes both factors, resource constraints and producers’ market power. Finite resources lead to interdependencies of current production decisions and future opportunities. These decisions in turn depend on the potential for large producers to set market prices above marginal costs. We analyze the impact of conditions on the global LNG market on market shares of pipeline gas suppliers, as well as on the speed of depletion of indigenous European resources. We focus on how shadow prices of resource constraints affect substitution patterns in the various scenarios.

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  • Gijsbert T.J. Zwart, 2009. "European Natural Gas Markets: Resource Constraints and Market Power," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(1_suppl), pages 151-166, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:30:y:2009:i:1_suppl:p:151-166
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol30-NoSI-10
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    3. Duso, Tomaso & Seldeslachts, Jo & Szucs, Florian, 2019. "The Impact of Competition Policy Enforcement on the Functioning of EU Energy Markets," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 40(01), pages 97-120.
    4. van Goor, Harm & Scholtens, Bert, 2014. "Modeling natural gas price volatility: The case of the UK gas market," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 126-134.
    5. Franziska Holz & Christian von Hirschhausen & Claudia Kemfert, 2009. "Perspectives of the European Natural Gas Markets Until 2025," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(1_suppl), pages 137-150, June.
    6. Youngho Chang & Dang Thi Quynh Trang & Tsiat Siong Tan & Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2021. "Competition and cooperation in the natural gas market: a game-theoretic demand-base analysis," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 21-49, December.
    7. Kristine Grimsrud & Knut Einar Rosendahl & Halvor B. Storrøsten & Marina Tsygankova, 2016. "Short Run Effects of Bleaker Prospects for Oligopolistic Producers of a Non-renewable Resource," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(3), pages 293-314, July.
    8. András Kiss, Adrienn Selei, and Borbála Takácsné Tóth, 2016. "A Top-Down Approach to Evaluating Cross-Border Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects in Europe," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Sustainab).
    9. Egging-Bratseth, Ruud & Baltensperger, Tobias & Tomasgard, Asgeir, 2020. "Solving oligopolistic equilibrium problems with convex optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 44-52.
    10. Riepin, Iegor & Schmidt, Matthew & Baringo, Luis & Müsgens, Felix, 2022. "Adaptive robust optimization for European strategic gas infrastructure planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. Tóth, Borbála Takácsné & Kotek, Péter & Selei, Adrienn, 2020. "Rerouting Europe's gas transit landscape - Effects of Russian natural gas infrastructure strategy on the V4," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Egging, Ruud & Holz, Franziska & Gabriel, Steven A., 2010. "The World Gas Model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4016-4029.
    13. Gijsbert Zwart & S. Ikonnikova, 2010. "Reinforcing buyer power: Trade quotas and supply diversification in the EU natural gas market," CPB Discussion Paper 147, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. Adrienn Selei & Borbála Tóth & Gustav Resch & László Szabó & Lukas Liebmann & Péter Kaderják, 2017. "How far is mitigation of Russian gas dependency possible through energy efficiency and renewable policies assuming different gas market structures?," Energy & Environment, , vol. 28(1-2), pages 54-69, March.
    15. Roberto Cardinale, 2023. "Liberalization and the volatility of gas prices: Exploring their relation in times of abundance and scarcity," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 24(2-3), pages 72-96, June.
    16. Chyong, Chi Kong & Henderson, James, 2024. "Quantifying the economic value of Russian gas in Europe in the aftermath of the 2022 war in Ukraine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).

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    Keywords

    Natural gas; EU; market power; NATGAS model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

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