Off the coast of Europe, 60 LNG tankers are sailing or are already moored in Northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula. These ships are sort of floating warehouses. LNG, as they cannot deliver their cargo because Europe’s tanks are full and there are no available storage spaces. One of them has anchored in the Suez Canal, and eight others, following from the USA, are heading to the Spanish port of Huelva. As Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, points out, “The wave of tankers arriving in Europe is exceeding the capacity of European facilities to re-gas fuel.” This means that the shipments cannot be delivered on time and their return to the Gulf of Mexico in the US is delayed. This is where they should get their next load, Lipov said, but as they delay, the result is more and more natural gas stockpiles than the market expected.

In short, what comes to the fore is the lack of infrastructure in Europe, in particular the lack of filling stations and the lack of pipelines connecting countries that have such installations. This is why more and more LNG is being stockpiled in floating storage, driving down fuel prices. It is also weighing on natural gas prices, which soared above 340 euros per megawatt-hour in August and fell below 100 euros this week for the first time since Russia cut off fuel supplies.

They have been turned into floating warehouses as they cannot deliver the cargo because Europe’s tanks are full.

Speaking to CNBC, energy industry experts say they are closely following the debate over whether to cap LNG prices in the EU. As Jacques Rousseau, Managing Director of ClearView Energy Partners LLC, points out, “Europe’s reserve accumulation process continues and occupancy is now in excess of 93%. At the same time, he emphasizes that “the establishment of a price ceiling for LNG will remove some traders from the market, and this will subsequently affect the supply of fuel coming to Europe.”