Some key takeaways for the FLAME conference 2023:

1. Natural gas and LNG will continue to play an important role in the energy transition, but European governments and companies do not want to commit to any long-term infrastructure investments or binding contracts when there is a chance the use of gas could get banned at some point.
2. There is not enough clear policy in place that can signal to investors that they can invest in Europe.
3. The market works and has been working throughout the energy crisis; there should not be reactionary policy such as price caps that can cause unintended consequences.
4. Europeans feel confident now with their current level of natural gas storage (60%?), but a hot summer and/or cold 23/24 winter could be harsh.
5. Still a lot of uncertainty and concern on whether China’s LNG demand will return this year.  The projected ranges of growth vary quite a bit.  
6. The energy transition is different for different regions/countries depending on where they are on their energy development right now; for example, moving away from burning oil, wood and dung to burning gas is a cleaner and healthier option for some countries while moving more toward wind and solar is an option for others.
7. The sentiment with Europeans is that for the energy transition to be successful, they need able to build out renewables faster.
8. Intermittency is still a major problem (solved by natural gas) and right now Europe is able to transfer that problem to other countries (poorer countries) by buying up the LNG on the spot market.
9. Hydrogen is going forward.  Taxpayers will invest trillions into it.  Challenges associated with hydrogen may be getting a short shrift compared to the hype around how great hydrogen will be for the future.