The Oilholic found himself in the Latvian capital of Riga for a speaking engagement at the 8th Baltic Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference held there from October 22-24.
Packed over two days, yours truly touched on the market drivers of energy prices – including Iran sanctions, global energy demand prospects, OPEC and the emerging energy mix. Of course, key on the agenda was the emergence of US LNG cargoes to the Baltics. To say that the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are spooked by their reliance on Russian natural gas imports would be an understatement.
Enter Lithuania's Klaipeda LNG Terminal which has already received its first LNG cargo from US (back in 2017). It has also meant that Vilnius' reliance on Russian imports is now down to 50%, but that of Estonia and Latvia remains stubbornly high at 75%.
However, for all of that, the Oilholic noted that US imports are unlikely to arrive in appreciable volumes, but rather serve as a corrective mechanism on pricing the Baltics receive from Russia's Gazprom. In any case, much of the imported LNG coming in via Klaipeda is under a long-term agreement with Norway's Equinor.
One also doubts the Americans are too bothered about the Baltics in volume terms as they chase offtake agreements in Asia's lucrative markets. That's all from the beautiful city of Riga folks on this quick turnaround. Keep reading, keep it ‘crude’!
To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.
To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.
To email: gaurav.sharma@oilholicssynonymous.com
© Gaurav Sharma 2018. Photo: Gaurav Sharma (left) on panel at the 8th Baltic Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference in Riga, Latvia, October 22-24, 2018 © Confidence Capital, 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment