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In the summer of last year, specifically in June, US business mogul Warren Buffett surprised markets with his first pandemic-era investment by injecting billions of dollars in investment into a company operating in the energy sector in the United States, particularly in the field. of natural gas.
Today, after about 9 months of investing in these investments, it seemed that the man’s bet on the future of gas prices was in order after a record rise in commodity prices in global markets of energy since the middle of last year.
Investment data, seen by Al Arabiya.net, shows that natural gas prices have risen by about 52% since the middle of last year, as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire continues to rise in price. participation in fossil fuel companies in recent years.
Selective investments
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Buffett’s investments have been very cautious until he announced a $ 10 billion nationwide deal that included the acquisition of $ 4 billion in assets owned by Dominion’s natural gas transportation and storage company and a hypothetical $ 6 billion debt. .
The deal at the time marked a turning point in Hathaway Berkshire’s investment in the US energy sector, with the company becoming responsible for about 18% of natural gas transfers between US states.
And it didn’t end there, in August of last year, Buffett bought stakes in five Japanese commodities trading companies in one of his biggest investments ever in China’s second-largest economy. Asia after China. The value of the investments Buffett put into these companies was around $ 6 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway acquired an approximate 5% stake in Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsui & Co and Sumitomo Corp.
And in the latest sign of the US business mogul’s confidence in the future of fossil fuels, Berkshire announced in a disclosure last month that it had invested around $ 4 billion in shares of the US industry giant. energy Chevron.
Upward momentum
A report from the Oil Price website indicates that demand for natural gas is still on the rise as one of the most attractive fossil fuels of the next decade, with expectations of a full recovery in demand following the aftermath of the pandemic during the current year.
Shell said in its annual report on the future of natural gas demand that demand for the product in the current year will reach around 700 million metric tonnes from around 360 million tonnes last year, with a almost double increase, thanks to an increase. in Asia and the global trend to rely on natural gas to generate electricity.
The report also indicates a state of equilibrium in the market between supply and demand, alongside the surge in U.S. natural gas exports after their collapse last year amid the pandemic that hit global markets for l ‘energy.
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