Posted on 08/30/2022 11:16:00 AM PDT by thegagline
China's economic slowdown has left it with a surplus of natural gas that it is re-selling to energy-strapped Europe, according to a report.
Boosted by cargoes from China, Europe's imports of liquefied natural gas jumped 60% year-on-year in the first half of 2002, according to a Nikkei report citing data from research firm Kpler.
China's economy has slowed sharply in 2022 as Beijing implemented a strict zero-COVID policy and as a crisis grips the country's highly indebted property sector. Economists think it is likely to fall well short of the government's aim of 5.5% growth.
The economic slowdown has left some Chinese companies with a surplus of natural gas — and they have been able to export this to Europe, where countries face a severe energy crisis.
More than 4 million tonnes of Chinese LNG has probably been resold — or roughly 7% of Europe's imports in the first half of the year — according to Nikkei.
Local media reported that Sinopec, China's state-owned energy giant, has sold 45 cargoes of the gas on the international market.
On top of the economic slowdown, an increase in coal-powered domestic energy supply has lowered the demand for natural gas in China, the report said.
The timing is somewhat fortunate for Europe, which is staring down a major energy crisis after Russia slashed the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to just 20% of capacity.
Europe is racing to fill its natural gas storage facilities ahead of what could be an extremely tough winter.
It has also been importing LNG from the US, where the fossil fuel is more readily available. That has provided some traders and energy companies with huge profits. **/
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
its a fantastic arbitrage opportunity.
They are probably making $billions on the trade.
Yes, this is just the CHinese being the middle men on a Russian EU transaction.
India is a middle man for Russian oil to Europe, making the BRICS nations happy 😃
TTF Netherlands LNG spot is at 88 bucks for December.
I am really impressed with the Jujitsu move from Russia in which he has been able to get his enemies to hurt themselves far more than he had intended.
Yes, Russia wants the natural gas revenue, but to still have markets and to have those middlemen now make a profit off the same fuel being sold back to the EU, is pretty amazing.
And notice that these countries have no other practical way to counter their energy move against Russia, or much in the way of weapons of consequence (or they are giving them and the Ukrainian Mafia is reselling them outside of the country).
What Putin did was very wrong, but there were no real threats from the EU when Russia took over Crimea. In fact, Trump told them his whole time in office that Russian natural gas dependency was a terrible idea, long after Crimea was taken. Of course, the EU laughed at Trump.
The whole lot of all the involved parties needs to go.
What the article also neglects to ask is, is the Chinese sale of gas to Europe cheaper than what Russia was charging for it.
It’d be very funny if China and India are buying it at a massive discount from Russia, and then passing the discount onto Europe.
Russia’s other friends, Turkey, aren’t exactly bending over backwards to help Putin (they’re supplying armor as well as Bayraktars, and still not giving Russia better access to the seas).
And Russia’s OTHER friends, Belarus, keep finding excuses not to commit their own forces as reinforcements.
Khazakhstan’s in passive resistance mode; while they haven’t passed any laws against displaying the Z, Russian drivers with the symbol are being told to their faces it’s a nazi symbol, no better than a swastika, and it’s not welcome there anymore...
https://twitter.com/i/status/1564318236279193601
All of which explains why Putin’s having to go begging to Kim Jong Un for 100k extra pairs of boots.
Must have been tough for them watching the Indians do it.
Gazprom and LukOil would be great investments. Unfortunately, our “free” markets have halted trading in these stocks
Chinese and Indians selling something at a discount? Yeah....right. Sure they are.
“What the article omitted is that China is reselling Russian LNG to Europe”
Yes, they say “reselling” about five times, but never identify who sold it to China in the first place.
The usual. Sanctimonius Europe laying sanctions on Russia while still funding Russia through middlemen. F*** Europe. F*** Russia. Bring our military home. We don’t need these evil entities and their incessant wars and conflicts.
Maybe even a little kickback to Putin.
The Financial Times (via Nikkei Asia) might be worth a read... The devil’s in the detail of the spot market.
https://www.ft.com/content/1e20467a-5b53-42b7-ad89-49808f7e1780
Asia was paying more than Europe, last year, when spot prices were in the ballpark of $6 per million metric British thermal unit (mmbtu).
Currently, China is paying Russia $45 per million BTU while Europe’s been paying $60 - a tenfold price hike from the pre-war spot price.
Russia was only very recently trying to chisel $80 on the Asian market and speculators in the East have noticed $100 being bandied about in relation to LNG from Sakhalin.
So compared to pre-war, China’s making a very tidy profit, as the cost has gone up at least fivefold since it bought the excess and if Russia tries the $100 trick, China will be able to sell double the quantity for the same price and still make a handsome profit.
You might want to familiarize yourself with the natural gas market before you comment on it.
Piped Russian natgas is probably around 6 to 10 bucks an mmBtu.
Our domestic Henry Hub natgas is at 9 bucks per mmBtu.
Are the Chinese also re-selling the oil Biden gave them from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
LOLOLOL!!!
Did Russia sell LNG to Europe or untreated wellhead natural gas? Does Europe have re-vaporization facilities to accept LNG? I thought that these were still in the design stage for future US LNG supply. I read that presently Russia is flaring the gas, originally sent to Europe, in the area of St Petersburg. They have to flare because they can’t shut down the line for fear of freezing. The gas is untreated and the impurities(and water) will freeze the control valves rendering the line useless. The gas has to flow in order for the line to remain open. Bitchy thermodynamics, isn’t it? No one mentioned heat tracing of valves.
Take THAT, Putin!!
EuroTards gonna Tard.
They also gonna freeze their little nubbins off this winter.
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