LNG is so expensive that buyers are PAYING to exit contracts🚢💰
🇨🇳 China's Foran will pay ~$19 million to cancel a small LNG purchase deal linked to spot prices
💸 Why? Asian LNG spot prices have surged 1400% since Foran signed the deal in July 2020
Natural gas traders in Europe are keeping a close eye on Russian deliveries 👀
➡️ Russian gas flows to Germany via the Yamal-Europe pipeline halted Friday after only restarting Wednesday
➡️ But deliveries via Ukraine are expected near maximum level
Russia will halt natural gas deliveries to buyers from ‘unfriendly’ countries in Europe unless they switch to payments in rubles from April 1, said Putin 🚨 🇷🇺
🏦 Buyers of Russia gas will need to open ruble accounts
(This is becoming a game of chicken)
Germany activated an emergency plan to secure natural gas supplies amid Russian disruption fears 🇩🇪🚨
☝️ The government in Berlin initiated the first of three possible phases
📉 Companies and consumers asked to reduce energy consumption wherever possible
Germany’s main energy suppliers have warned in recent days that they can’t rule out interruptions to supplies after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded payment of gas in rubles
"This is a precautionary decision,” said Economy Minister Robert Habeck. “There have been several statements from the Russian side that, if that doesn’t happen, deliveries will be stopped.”
Japan's top business newspaper investigated false claims about so-called "carbon neutral" liquefied natural gas 📰🇯🇵
The Nikkei found that LNG touted as adding no net carbon do not have a basis for that claim
The article is the 1st in Japan to cover this, and that's important🧵
First off, what is "carbon neutral" LNG?
These are LNG shipments where the seller or buyer by purchasing carbon offsets to cover the emissions of producing, shipping and burning the fuel
These offsets come from projects that are supposed to remove equivalent emissions elsewhere
But terms such as “carbon neutral” imply balancing emissions by removing an equivalent amount of carbon
Climate scientists say measures such as preventing deforestation or supporting renewable energy projects actually do little to extract additional carbon from the air
Pakistan can’t afford to buy fuel from the spot market amid a global supply crunch 🇵🇰
💰 Pakistan didn't award last week's LNG purchase tender due to sky-high offers
💰 Factories choose to buy coal from Afghanistan as traditional suppliers too pricey
One of Pakistan’s long-term LNG suppliers recently canceled several cargoes for delivery scheduled through July, and the country can’t afford to replace them with spot market purchases 🚢
Imports from Afghanistan have risen to around 500,000 tons a month from zero last summer, and it now makes up 70% of supply for some factories in northern Pakistan
Afghan coal is 40%-45% cheaper than seaborne supplies
South African coal prices surged to a record recently
Some 53% of people said nuclear reactors should restart, if safety can be ensured, while 38% said they should remain shut, according to the Nikkei poll
That’s up from 44% support for the restarts in a similar survey in September
I can't emphasize enough how much this is a huge shift for Japan
Japan's public opinion moved decisively against atomic power after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami resulted in the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima, with most of the country’s nuclear reactors remaining shut