The Argentine authorities have banned the acceptance of a cargo of Yamal LNG, which was sold to a state-owned company by an international trader. Reason – non-existent sanctions. The main supplier of gas to the country is the United States, but the reason may be banal. The country is experiencing an oversupply of LNG that it cannot resell and is trying to get rid of the excess LNG by any means necessary.
The Argentine government has blocked the shipment of Russian LNG. This was announced to the C5N TV channel by the Minister of Economy of the country, Sergio Massa. He explained that the Argentine state energy company Energia Argentina refused to accept the cargo it had previously ordered.
We are talking about Yamal LNG, which was delivered to the Bahia Blanca terminal by the Flex Artemis tanker. Judging by the AIS data, the ship loaded on June 25 in French Montreux, where cargo is delivered from Yamal LNG, and on July 15 arrived at the port’s anchorage. On July 18, the ship left Argentina and is now heading north along the coast of Brazil.
The Flex Artemis tanker is on a five-year charter with international trader Gunvor, which apparently purchased Yamal LNG from France’s TotalEnergies or Novatek’s trading arm.
The head of the Ministry of Economy of Argentina explained the ban with sanctions. What, he did not say. At the same time, there are no international sanctions, as well as EU and US restrictions on Russian LNG supplies.
Gunvor said the supply was legal and transparent and there are no sanctions against Russian LNG.
At the same time, something else is known. The main source of LNG for Argentina is the United States. And two LNG receiving terminals in the form of regasification vessels belong to American Excelerate Energy.
However, there may be a more banal reason for the refusal to accept Yamal LNG. Due to the warm winter, Argentina is experiencing a glut of gas and is trying to get rid of already contracted cargo.
“After a mild winter last year, state-owned energy company Energía Argentina said it was able to sell three of its surplus cargoes to other countries and profit from the deals. This year, Argentina has agreed to pay around $20 per million BTUs ($710 per thousand cubic meters), but weakening demand in Europe has pushed prices down (to $300). This leaves Argentina with little room to resell cargo, and suppliers are unwilling to renegotiate terms to lower the price of fuel that has already been contracted, traders familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg wrote in June.
2023-07-20 07:28:00
#Yamal #LNG #allowed #Argentina #authorities #nonexistent #sanctions #EADaily
