Natural Gas (glass furnace fuel)

Norwegian state energy company (Oslo Stock Exchange: EQNR; 67% owned by Norwegian government, HQ Stavanger; ~$150B revenue); world's 5th-largest natural gas supplier and the dominant supplier of natural gas to Europe via Norwegian North Sea pipeline infrastructure (Gassled pipeline network). Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent sanctions on Russian gas (Gazprom), Equinor became the single most important gas supplier to continental Europe — Norway replaced Russia as Europe's largest gas supplier in 2022. For industrial gas companies (Linde, Air Liquide, Air Products European operations) using natural gas for Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) hydrogen production, Equinor's Norwegian pipeline gas is the critical feedstock. Equinor also operates in the US (Marcellus shale, Gulf of Mexico), Angola, Brazil, and Canada. The Norwegian government's 67% stake means European industrial hydrogen supply depends significantly on Norwegian state energy policy decisions.

US LNG company (NYSE: LNG, HQ Houston TX); operator of Sabine Pass LNG (Sabine Parish, Louisiana — world's largest LNG export terminal by capacity, ~30 mtpa across 6 trains) and Corpus Christi LNG (Texas, ~15 mtpa across 3 trains). Cheniere was the first company to export LNG from the US Lower 48 (February 2016, Sabine Pass Train 1). By 2023 Cheniere exported ~45 mtpa of LNG, making it the single largest LNG exporter in the world. Cheniere's business model is toll-based: it liquefies gas at a fixed fee while customers source the gas — meaning Cheniere earns revenue whether gas prices are high or low. 70% of Cheniere's LNG is sold under 20-year fixed-price contracts; the remainder is marketed on spot markets. Same company that first proved US LNG exports now controls the world's largest LNG export terminal.

Gazprom PJSC (Moscow; MOEX: GAZP; majority state-owned via Rosimushchestvo; 2022 revenue ~$163B before sanctions impact) is the world's largest natural gas company by reserves and historically by production, accounting for ~11% of global natural gas output and controlling ~16% of proven global reserves. Gazprom operates the three giant Yamal Peninsula supergiant fields: Bovanenkovo (production since 2012, design capacity 115+ bcm/year), Urengoy (peak producer, now mature), and Yamburg. The Yamal Peninsula fields sit above the Arctic Circle and require specialist cryogenic engineering. Post-February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom's pipeline revenues collapsed: Russia-Germany Nord Stream 1 flows were reduced to 20% of capacity before the pipeline was sabotaged in September 2022; Gazprom's net profit fell ~67% in 2022 and the company posted a rare net loss in FY2023. Gazprom's weaponization of gas flows to Europe (cutting flows to Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Netherlands beginning in April 2022) constituted deliberate supply manipulation — documented by European energy regulators and ACER.