Global instability is pushing buyers of liquefied natural gas to prioritise energy security over other considerations, such as pricing, an executive at French oil major TotalEnergies said at the India Energy Week conference on Wednesday.
"In the world we live in security of supply is coming back to the top of the agenda...the customer wants the energy to be delivered," said Ronan Bescond, Total's vice president of long-term marketing and origination for gas and power.
He added that buyers were more likely to sign contracts with companies like TotalEnergies, which have access to a global portfolio of LNG they can draw on to redirect cargoes when necessary to avoid local blockages.
"We are going, in this industry and in this world, from one crisis to another one: Ukraine invasion, COVID, the Panama drought which blocked (certain sized ships from transiting through) the canal...and customers see the portfolio player as someone that will deliver the molecule no matter what," Bescond said.
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan in Goa, writing by America Hernandez in Paris. Editing by David Goodman and Louise Heavens)
