as gas prices soar LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The world's top commodity trading houses are being told by brokers and exchanges to deposit hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funds to cover their exposure to soaring gas prices, seven sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Glencore, Gunvor, Trafigura and Vitol are among the commodity merchants facing what are known as margin calls on their financial positions in natural gas markets, the sources said.
The calls are forcing the traders to tie up more capital. Some, particularly smaller firms, are having to increase borrowing, leaving them with less cash to trade with and potentially hurting their profits, the sources said. "While there have been margin calls associated with the European natural gas price rally, Gunvor maintains a healthy liquidity position and instruments to manage any further volatility," a company spokesperson said. Glencore, whose main business is mining, declined to comment. Trafigura and Vitol also declined to comment. Trading firms have gambled heavily on natural gas produced and exported from the United States in recent years, signing long-term contracts to buy cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Some of the contracts run through 2041 and are mainly designed to export gas to Europe and Asia. To hedge against price differences between physical gas in the United States now and the rest of the world in the future, traders need to sell short positions in the European and Asian gas futures markets. Two of the sources said trading houses and other players had together accumulated $30 billion worth of short positions in the TTF market, with European utilities taking the opposite long side of the play.
soso Short Squeeze bei europäischem Gas ? |