Natural Gas Shudders Over Continued Algeria Violence
From Futures Magazine
By Phil Flynn
Earlier optimistic reports of hostages escaping from the Algerian gas facility changed into a more disturbing reality. Reuters reports that At least 22 foreign hostages were unaccounted for on Friday and their al-Qaeda-linked captors threatened to attack other energy installations after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths.
The threat to their energy facilities is sending shivers across Europe as Algeria is the number three supplier of gas to Europe and a supplier of high quality sweet crude oil. Nat Gas prices soared across Europe in part because of frigid temperatures and the risk trade coming on. The Financial Times reported that “Algeria is the ninth-largest global gas producer and fifth-largest exporter, accounting for 11% of the European gas market.
