More than 30 Ships carrying gas – liquefied natural gas (LNG) – are circling around Europe’s shoreline, as traders are holding out for higher market prices.
Ships carrying $2 billion in natural gas are waiting off Europe’s coast for prices to rise so they can cash in on extra profits by extorting consumers in winter.
The EU investment fund had invested in Gas and oil companies at the start of the covid pandemic.
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Milder-than-usual temperatures, reduced gas consumption and Europe’s storage sites rapidly filling up ahead of winter have all helped pull prices lower.
But the traders keeping their tankers offshore are betting prices will gain in the months ahead, as colder weather sets in and lifts heating demand, and as gas is released from storage.
Ships carrying Gas to EU
According to the Financial Times, shipping analytics company Vortexa, the ships carrying gas have a combined load worth $2bn of LNG, and are sailing slowly around Northwest Europe.
Prices for natural gas in Europe have fallen back from their August highs when they topped 346 euros (£302) per megawatt-hour.
But traders keeping their tankers offshore are counting on prices to increase in the months ahead, as colder weather sets in and lifts heating demand, releasing gas from storage.
“For now these vessels have the incentive to hold positions” in anticipation that colder weather will increase demand for energy and in turn drive up prices, according to Felix Booth, head of LNG at Vortexa, told the newspaper.
Ships carrying LNG
Another 30 ships carrying LNG are sailing across the Atlantic and are expected to join the tankers before the winter, data from Vortexa showed.
LNG tankers in European waters have doubled in the past two months, as European countries filled their storage tanks to near their limits before the winter.
“LNG vessels have been queued up outside European LNG receiving terminals, chasing what they expected to be the premium market for this LNG,” Said Mr Booth.
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