Gazprom Accuses US LNG Hegemony of Tripling European Gas Prices

Gazprom official Polous, during a panel at the "IndoPacific LNG Summit 2026" in Indonesia, sharply criticized Europe's energy security strategies and claims of LNG's superiority over pipeline gas, exposing the cost explosion in the continent's new energy equation.

Europe's Energy Dependency Shifts to the US

It was argued that the dependency on Russian gas, which Europe criticized for years, has been replaced by a much more costly US dependency with different risks. Key data highlighted in Polous's speech includes:

■%60 of Europe's total LNG imports currently come from the US.

■The US share in LNG imports for industrial giants like Germany has risen above %90.

■While Qatar has been a leading player for years, US dominance has become the decisive factor in price setting.

Pipeline Era Ends, Costs Triple

The cost burden of shifting energy supply security from pipelines to LNG vessels was substantiated with Gazprom data. Polous stated that natural gas prices have risen to fully three times higher levels compared to the period when significant amounts of Russian gas were delivered to the European market. This price increase threatens not only supply costs but also the competitiveness of European industry.

■Gazprom had increased its market share to %40 with investments spanning 50 years before the Ukraine war.

■Due to sanctions and policy changes, Gazprom's gas shipments to Europe dropped from 201.7 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 18 billion cubic meters in 2025.

■LNG shipments remain vulnerable to interruptions at production facilities and geopolitical risks in strategic straits like the Strait of Hormuz, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, and Panama.

Rüzgar Ersoy Analysis: This structural shift in energy markets creates serious pressure on macroeconomic stability. The triple increase in gas prices fuels the inflationary environment, prolonging the necessity for central banks to tighten interest rate policies. From a banking sector perspective, volatility in energy costs pushes risk premiums on industrial loans higher, while companies need to cope with the risk of margin compression to maintain the sustainability of Capital Adequacy Ratios (CAR). Although Fintech solutions increase transparency in energy trading, this geopolitical fragility in supply security requires the reconstruction of financial models.