Dong Energy is expanding its liquefied natural gas trading business to profit from more global supply heading to Europe.
The Danish state-controlled utility is hiring two traders for its London office, bringing its LNG team there to as many as four, Karsten Plauborg, head of LNG at Dong, said.
Dong estimates that global LNG production will expand by 146 million metric tons a year through 2020, which is about half of how much existing plants produce.
Europe accounts for about 20% of global LNG import capacity, according to the International Gas Union. More than half of the U.S. LNG supply will go to Europe by 2020, according to analysts Wood Mackenzie.
Utilities such as Germany’s RWE and trading houses from Gunvor Group to Glencore have been opening or expanding LNG desks over over past four years in anticipation of a surge in supply from Australia and the US