ELPRISTRÅDEN - Spotpriset på elen nära 2kr/kwh idag, alltså nästan 4kr/kwh. Hur är det möjligt?

Gaspriserna i Europa rasade med över 20 procent under torsdagen sedan en amerikansk flotta av tankers med flytande naturgas, LNG, satt kurs mot kontinenten. Det handlar om minst 10 fartyg. Ytterligare 20 tycks vara på väg att korsa Atlanten men har ännu inte angett någon slutdestination, enligt data som Bloomberg tagit del av.

As prices in Europe have pushed higher, tankers of liquefied natural gas bound for Asia have rerouted to European ports, but increased deliveries of LNG were unlikely to have an immediate impact. Wholesale European gas prices are up more than 800 per cent in 2021, initially driven by resurgent global demand and competition with Asia when governments relaxed coronavirus restrictions earlier in the year.

More than a third of the EU’s gas supplies come from Russia, but this year inflows have fallen. Gazprom has declined to sell additional volumes to Europe beyond those covered by long-term contracts

Some traders fear that a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, which hosts one of the other main pipelines into western Europe, could disrupt supplies even further over the winter.

High prices have been a boon for Gazprom. Famil Sadygov, deputy chair, said on Tuesday that the group expected to generate record net income of more than Rbs2tn ($27bn) for 2021