In November, 2025 in Brazil the conference of the UN on climate of COP30 which results showed cooling of interest in «green power transition» took place.

The final agreement includes only the obligation about increase in financing of efforts of the poorest countries on fight against climate changes, but does not contain obligations for refusal to use fossil fuel. The executive secretary of the UN framework convention about climate change Simon Steel noted: «I do not say that we win fight for climate protection, but undoubtedly we still conduct it and we fight back». Observers reported about serious contradictions of delegates during negotiations on coordination of the text of the final declaration. In particular, the EU and a number of the Latin American countries demanded to register obligations for gradual refusal of fossil types of fuel while Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries wanted to exclude such provisions completely. A number of participants called on countries to sign at least some version of the final agreement to show the general unity in fight against climate changes.

Europe and USA

On November 20, the Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the European countries should avoid excessive dependence on import of LNG from the USA. The U.S. President Donald Trump «seeks to replace somehow the Russian dependence with the American dependence» as Europe looks for energy carriers, Pouyanne said. «We must maintain the diversification of our supply,» he said.

The alarm bells began to sound in early December. On December 3 during trading in the USA the futures for gas with delivery in January for the first time in three years exceeded 5 dollars/one million BTU (156.75 dollars/thousand CBM). In a year the futures with delivery «for the month ahead» rose more than 60%. The Platts agency reported on December 2 that the difference between the cost of contracts for the supply of gas on American «in Henry Hub» and by supply of LNG in Northwest Europe was reduced to the minimum value from the moment of the beginning of calculation of this indicator and made 4.309 dollars/one million BTU (135.08 dollars/thousand CBM) while a year ago this rate was 11.48 dollars/one million BTU. The prices of LNG in Europe fell up to 9.076 dollars/one million BTU (284.52 dollars/thousand CBM) — the lowest value since May 1, 2024. At the same time in the USA the price on «Henry Hub» grew to 4.9 dollars/one million BTU. If the gas price in the USA steadily exceeds 5 dollars/one million BTU and in Europe will fall up to 8-8.5 dollars/one million BTU (250.8-266.5 dollars/thousand CBM), then it will create conditions for cancellation of deliveries of consignments of the American LNG to the European market.

In early December, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, criticized the EU’s energy policy. «Power policy is one of the weakest directions of policy of Europe … It has been lazy and too careless, and in recent decades it has not adequately addressed energy security and affordability,» he said.

On December 1, The Wall Street Journal published a critical article stating that the «green» course of European policy has led to a loss of political consensus on the continent, «paralyzed industry,» and the postponement of major projects due to the world’s highest electricity prices.

In turn the CEO of marketing and long-term contracts of Total Romain de la Tournel said that about 60%, or about 50 billion cubic meters of the lost demand for gas from the European industry probably will never be restored any more, because a part of the enterprises of oil-processing and steel industry and also productions of fertilizers have been transferred to the countries with lower cost of energy resources.

Growth of a share of RES in an energy balance pushes the European Union countries to development of gas generation which is capable to stabilize power supply system. At the beginning of December the Minister of Economy and Energy of Germany Katerina Raykhe confirmed carrying out of the first tender for construction of new gas stations within the coordinated power of 8 GW in March or April. This suggests that enlightenment is gradually coming to the minds of European officials.

There are more and more politicians in Germany advocating the resumption of purchases of Russian natural gas. It would be expedient to Germany to appeal to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin again to deliver the Russian gas that it would be possible to coordinate to ceasefire in Ukraine, the new cochairman of the German party Union Social Justice and Economic Rationality (the renamed Sara Vagenknekht’s Union — For Reason and Justice party) Fabio de Mazi said at the beginning of December: «It, for example, actually would become expedient policy if we came to Mister Putin and told that we are ready to receive gas also again and we want to coordinate it to a ceasefire regime in Ukraine», de Mazi at a congress in Magdeburg said.

At the end of November, the UK’s National Power System Operator published a report noting that gas will remain an important element in ensuring the country’s energy security in the next decade. In the period of peak demand and falling of development of RES at the expense of gas the stability of a system will be provided. The report contains a warning of possible deficiency of gas in the period of winter peaks of consumption if sufficient means are not invested in development of gas infrastructure and diversification of sources of gas.

At the same time the authorities of Great Britain made a decision on preservation till March, 2030 of an excess profit tax for the oil and gas companies. After this term it will be replaced with a new tax which will be levied only when the price of hydrocarbons exceeds certain «ceiling». Industry associations noted that this tax negatively affects investments and threatens jobs and also does the oil and gas extracted in the British sector the Northern Sea noncompetitive. They urged the government to pass to the new system of taxation quicker.

In turn, the Czech electricity producer Seven Česká Energie announced that it plans to close three coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 2.4 GW due to unfavorable economic conditions for the operation of coal-fired power plants in the country. Only one coal-fired thermal power plant with a capacity of 64 MW will remain in the company’s portfolio. The closure of projects must take place within the period approved by law, starting in December 2026 and no later than March 2027. Coal still accounts for about 40% of electricity generation in the Czech Republic, but the government has set a goal of phasing out coal-fired generation by 2033.

China, Korea, Singapore and Indonesia

The Chinese corporation of the international sea container transport declared on November 24 commissioning of the project of 100% conversion of coke gas in «clean» power sources, including LNG. The project is located in Liaoning Province in northeastern China and involves the annual production of up to 140 thousand tons of LNG, 60 thousand tons of synthetic ammonia and 24 million cubic meters of hydrogen. According to the company, the new technology can reduce the cost of hydrogen production by 30% compared to using natural gas or coal. The first project on LNG production from coke gas in China appeared in 2013. So far more than 20 such projects work in the country already, most of them is concentrated in northern coal-mining regions. In addition, Chinese companies are implementing such projects abroad: for example, an agreement was recently signed between Chinese and Mongolian companies to produce LNG from coke oven gas in Mongolia. The new project in the Province of Liaoning differs in the fact that thanks to the applied technology the 100% conversion of coke gas for the first time is reached that allows receiving not only LNG but also ammonia and hydrogen. However, the economic feasibility of projects on LNG production from coke gases is definitely not defined. In materials about their realization the emphasis is generally placed on an ecological component of projects of utilization of flue gases.

The authorities of South Korea plan to stop gradually by 2040 operation of 40 operating coal power plants. Specific plans for the remaining 20 coal-fired power plants will be prepared in 2026. Plans to close power plants were announced in connection with the Republic of Korea’s accession to the Alliance against Coal, a declaration prepared as part of the UN climate conference.

At the end of November, Alan Heng, CEO of the Singaporean state-owned company GasCo, which is the operator of centralized gas purchases, said that in the first quarter the selection of candidates for contracts for the supply of LNG from 2028 would begin. Agreements in force will cover demand of Singapore for gas in the next two years, but by 2028-2029 the deficiency of supply of gas will be about 3 million tons/year, and by 2035 it will increase to 6 million tons/year. The gas share in generation of the electric power in Singapore makes about 95%. According to Heng, the existing contracts for the supply of gas on pipelines expire in 2028 and on supply of LNG during 2028-2032. He noted that GasCo plans to prolong contracts with Malaysia and Indonesia for import of gas on pipelines, but the Singapore side is not sure that these volumes will remain at the previous level because of growth of consumption of gas in these countries. Regarding the price peg in contracts for LNG imports, Heng noted that both exchange gas indices and the oil basket will be used.

In turn the Minister of Energy of Indonesia noted that because of increase in demand for gas in domestic market the export of 20 LNG parties from Indonesia is postponed since 2025 for 2026. According to him, it became the result of miscalculations in planning of demand for gas in the country. Earlier representatives of Special group on regulation of activity in the sector of exploration and production of oil and gas of Indonesia said that plans for export of LNG in 2025 made 150 LNG parties of Indonesia, but warned that a part of volumes can be redirected on domestic market against the background of increase in demand from the generation companies.

Bangladesh and Australia

Bangladesh’s state-owned national oil and gas corporation Petrobangla has decided to buy at least seven additional LNG cargoes annually on the spot market to close the chronic gas shortage to meet the demand of fertilizer plants. The company will use the means received from increase in a tariff for natural gas which was approved by the Commission on regulation of power industry of Bangladesh. The tariff is increased by 82.81%, up to 29.25 taka (0.237 dollars) / CBM, since December 1, 2025. The Head of the company, Rezanur Rahman, said that the tariff increase will allow the company to supply 250 thousand cubic feet (7.07 million cubic meters) of gas per day during the peak fertilizer production season from October to March. Also this step will help the company to increase annual import of LNG by 6.48% up to 115 cargoes and to provide additional income of 20.34 billion taka (166.78 million dollars) a year.

In Australia, a natural gas field has been discovered in the Essington area, located in the southeast of the country. The project is designed to provide gas to the east coast of Australia. Over the past seven years, no drilling work was carried out on the shelf of eastern Australia. A need for a new source of gas is due to the fact that the existing field in Bass Strait off the coast of Victoria is close to depletion.