Fitch admitted that the gas market in Europe will become more scarce due to "Power of Siberia - 2"

Dmitry Marinchenko, Director of the Fitch Group for Natural Resources and Commodities, told RIA Novosti in a commentary on this.

Gazprom will undoubtedly continue to supply gas to Europe under long-term contracts, but the amount of gas sold under spot deals and in excess of the minimum contractual volumes may indeed decrease.

This may lead to the fact that "Gazprom" will cease to be a balancing supplier of the "last resort" in Europe, as part of the gas from the fields in Western Siberia will go to China, "he said.

As a result, the gas market in Europe may become more scarce, says Marinchenko, and peaks in consumption will be covered by LNG, which will have to compete with Asia.

At the same time, the gas supplied to China via the gas pipeline is additional volumes of LNG that will not be purchased by the PRC.

They will be available to other buyers, including European ones, the expert said.

It will be possible to talk about a possible shortage of gas on the European market after Power of Siberia - 2 is put into operation, he said.

Marinchenko stressed that entering the Chinese gas market for Gazprom is an absolutely pragmatic concept, because in the future the company may face a drop in gas demand in Europe due to the transition to renewable energy sources.

At the beginning of September last year, gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia for the fourth time in a year have renewed an absolute record.