More companies are moving into LNG trading supported by a positive gas market, according to Wood Mackenzie's Giles Farrer, a research director of LNG and Global Gas Research on Monday.
Farrer, speaking during the European Gas Conference in Austria's Vienna, said the availability of Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRUs), lower gas prices and market liberalization offer incentives to companies to move into the LNG market.
'FSRUs are key to many market players,' he asserted.
He added that major international companies are shifting their portfolio to gas and taking advantage of the oil market's downturn to build counter cyclical measures to diversify their portfolios.
'Some big national oil companies are now also starting to follow suit,' he said.
The many recent LNG mergers and acquisitions such as ExxonMobil's acquisition of a 25 percent stake in a Mozambique LNG project, and Total's acquisition of a 27 percent stake in Tellurian at the end of 2016, are proof of this new market change.
'The future of gas and LNG looks bright for many years to come. Companies are increasing their exposure to gas and LNG, making the corporate landscape more complicated,' he said.
'This is changing the way LNG is bought and sold. Middle men are building positions, long-term contracting has fallen and short-term tendering is on the rise,' he concluded.
By Murat Temizer in Vienna
Anadolu Agency
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