The modes of influence of oil on gas markets - The economy

This article first indicates how the oil price has influence on some gas markets in the USA, in the UK and in the Asia-Pacific region. The author then focuses on this last region, notably Japan where the LNG market was strongly impacted by the oil price. Many Asian actors now want to reform the gas market in order to avoid such a strong influence. The author discusses the consequences of the development of shale gas exploitation in the USA, not only on the US domestic market, but also on Europe and Asia. In Europe, two types of prices are still coexisting: indexed and spot prices. Indexed prices might be reached in periods of tension on the market (during a cold winter), but the trend is globally oriented downwards. It seems that spot prices tend to converge toward indexed prices, at least in winter. Thus, despite the existence of indexed contracts, the influence of oil price is slowly decreasing. Finally, the author outlines upheavals experienced by the gas market since 2009 due to economic growth, development of shale gas, change of contract models, level of LNG supply, CO₂ price, increasing share of renewable energies