Could Gazprom be about to start a price war in the global gas market? With the prospect of a wave of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies starting to hit the market later this year, energy investors fear the Russian state gas giant may adopt the same strategy in the gas market that Saudi Arabia has done in oil. It may seem like a gas price war is the last thing that Russia, reeling from the impact of low oil prices, needs. But analysts say that such a strategy may be economically rational for Gazprom: already low prices in the European gas market mean it could relatively easily push prices to a level at which it would be unprofitable to ship LNG from the US — and in doing so defend its market share in a region that accounts for the bulk of its profits. Such a move would […]