Gas tankers from the US are massively changing routes and heading to Europe

Tankers carrying US liquefied natural gas (LNG) are changing routes en masse and are being diverted to Europe instead of their original destinations. According to the Financial Times, at least seven vessels originally headed for Africa, Asia and Colombia have changed course and are now heading to European ports, writes radiosvoboda.org.

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"Some of the vessels made quite sharp turns. It's unusual to see so many course changes and so many obvious turns," one of the sources said.

The reason for such a sharp maneuver was the desire of traders to take advantage of the increase in gas prices in Europe, caused by the cessation of Russian supplies through Ukraine.

The Financial Times notes that gas prices on the European market are currently at their highest level since October 2023.

According to analysts, redirecting American LNG shipments from Asia to Europe, where demand and prices are much higher, could increase profits by more than five million dollars for each shipment, the Financial Times writes.

At the same time, after the cessation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine, Europe is trying to diversify supplies, for example, by purchasing gas from Azerbaijan.

At the same time, China seeks to win over Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers, including Saudi Arabia, by convincing them of the unpredictability of Trump's policies, writes the American publication Forbes. In addition, Beijing promises Baku long-term contracts for the purchase of Azerbaijani energy resources.

According to Forbes, the Trump administration needs to strengthen ties with the countries of the Middle East and the Caspian region to prevent China's influence from increasing, especially against the backdrop of its rapprochement with Iran and Russia.

On January 23, Donald Trump spoke via video link at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. In his speech, the US president said that oil prices are too high, which allows Russia to continue the conflict with Ukraine. Trump called on major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and OPEC countries, to increase production and lower prices so that the fighting ends as soon as possible.

Read also on Newsky "Canada has frozen more than $350 million in Russian assets since the start of the war" and look at "Boring Pence" YouTube channels.

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