Hopes that the advent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States to Europe could help bring down European prices may prove misguided, according to VTB Capital’s head of energy research, Colin Smith.
“Is US LNG going to cut gas prices in Europe? Probably not by very much, if at all,” Smith said at the VTB Capital New York Investment Forum on April 10. Keep reading →
A concentration of energy-intensive base metals stocks in a handful of warehouses threatens to impede buyer access to needed supply, warned VTB Capital’s global head of commodities research Wiktor Bielski at the firm’s New York Investment Forum on Wednesday.
Prior to 2008, most production of six base metals – aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc, lead and tin – was traded under long-term contract, at prices heavily influenced by a 10% “float component”, which allows both buyer and seller to take up to 10% more or less of the contracted volume. This marginal supply component was broadly distributed among producers, consumers, traders, merchants, and exchange warehouses, and readily accessible in the event of an uptick in demand. Keep reading →
