Eni Predicts 2026 LNG Market to Remain Delicately Balanced Amid Demand

LNG Market Dynamics and Future Projections

By Emily Chow and Yousef Saba

Current Supply and Demand Situation

DOHA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market is expected to stay finely balanced this year as thin supply buffers, low European inventories and recovering Asian demand leave little room for unexpected weather shocks, an Eni executive said.

Eni's LNG Portfolio Strategy

"Europe has very low storages, and we need to refill it in the summer," Cristian Signoretto, director for global gas & LNG portfolio at Italian energy major Eni told Reuters.

Impact of U.S. LNG on Europe

"And we expect also Asia, China, to rebound a bit from the low consumption of last year, because prices will be a bit softer than last year," he added, speaking on the sidelines of the LNG2026 conference.

"If we have a cold spell in the last part of this winter... Or if you have a heat wave in Asia or Europe during the summer, we might be in a tricky situation to be able to pull gas for European storages," Signoretto said.

"So we still see 2026 as very finely balanced."

From 2027 into 2028 however, additional LNG supply will help to further soften prices, although project delays remain a risk, he added.

New demand from Southeast Asia and the Middle East will show up if LNG prices fall below $10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), Signoretto said.

PORTFOLIO AIM

Eni has said it aims to have 20 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of contracted LNG supply in its portfolio by 2029 to 2030.

Signoretto said Eni still needed to contract about 7 mtpa of LNG to reach that target.

"Our strategy is to try to bring into our portfolio LNG coming from our production sites in Congo, Mozambique, Indonesia, Cyprus," he said, adding that its production will account for 605 to 70% of the company's portfolio.

"And the rest we are comfortable with having third-party LNG in our portfolio."

EUROPE

In Europe, President Donald Trump's transactional diplomacy and his pursuit of "energy dominance" have sharpened concerns about the region's heavy reliance on U.S. LNG, which replaced most of the volumes previously supplied by Russia.

Policy makers must intervene if they want to bring about change, Signoretto said, as market fundamentals direct U.S. cargoes to Europe because of shorter shipping distances.

"This is just the market reality of having an important source of LNG on the other side of the Atlantic," he said. "It's the most efficient way to transport the LNG. So that's why American LNG is getting in big quantities into Europe."

The European Union's imports of LNG from the United States stood at almost 60 million tons in 2025, nearly four times higher than 2021 levels, Kpler data shows.

(Reporting by Emily Chow and Yousef Saba in Doha; Writing by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Florence Tan and Clarence Fernandez)