Indian companies have entered the LNG spot market and started buying shipments that traditionally go to Europe. The activity of Asian consumers led to the fact that in the European Union the price of gas for the first time jumped above the level of March, when the Iranian war was in full swing, and is second only to the crisis of 2022.
"Indian energy companies are paying some of the highest prices in the LNG spot market in recent years as the war with Iran continues to disrupt supplies," Bloomberg reports.
According to him, the state-owned gas company Gail bought a batch of LNG at a price of more than $ 810 per thousand cubic meters. It will be delivered in September. Gujarat State Petroleum paid the same amount for a batch of liquefied gas.
"Since the deals are not public, these are the most expensive LNG shipments imported to India since 2022," the agency writes, citing sources.
Bharat Petroleum also entered the LNG spot market, which this week agreed to purchase one batch.
Traditionally, Indian companies import LNG under a long-term contract with Qatar. However, the Iranian war stopped almost all supplies.
Thus, Indian companies have entered the market where European companies are traditionally purchased, which further spurs prices in Europe itself.
Local traders are in no hurry to buy sufficient volumes of gas in storage and this week the difference with last year's reserves has already reached more than 14 billion cubic meters. In this situation, LNG purchases are recovering, but too slowly. According to GIE, during the three weeks of August, imports increased to 277 million cubic meters per day, whereas, for example, in March it amounted to more than 431 million cubic meters.
The result of the competition was a new jump in prices. On August 21, the cost of gas supplies for a month in advance from the Dutch TTF exchange rose to $ 813. This is the highest price since 2022.