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Sweden will give emergency liquidity support to electricity producers as its prime minister warned that Russia’s decision to halt gas deliveries to Europe could place its financial system under severe strain.
瑞典總理警告說，俄羅斯停止向歐洲輸送天然氣的決定可能使其金融系統面臨嚴重壓力，因此瑞典將向電力生產商提供緊急流動性支援。
Magdalena Andersson said on Saturday that the government would offer hundreds of billions of kroner in funding to electricity producers, who have seen the amount of collateral they must post with exchanges balloon in response to soaring gas and power prices and increasing volatility.
瑪格達萊娜·安德松(Magdalena Andersson)週六表示，政府將向電力生產商提供數千億克朗的資金。由於天然氣和電力價格飆升，且波動性加大，這些生產商必須向交易所提交的抵押品數量激增。
EU energy ministers will also consider taking steps to ease the lack of liquidity for energy companies across the bloc at an emergency meeting on Friday, according to two officials briefed on the discussions.
據兩名聽取了討論簡報的官員表示，在週五的緊急會議上，歐盟能源部長們還將考慮採取措施，緩解整個歐盟能源企業流動性不足的問題。
Andersson warned that, left unchecked, rising collateral demands for electricity producers could ripple through the main Nasdaq Clearing market in Stockholm and, in the worst case, spark a financial crisis.
安德松警告稱，如果不加以遏制，對電力生產商不斷上升的抵押品需求可能會波及斯德哥爾摩的那斯達克清算市場(Nasdaq Clearing)，在最糟糕的情況下，還可能引發金融危機。
Her remarks came after Russia said on Friday that it would
no longer supply gas via the Nordstream 1 pipeline. That announcement came after energy markets had closed for the weekend.
“Yesterday’s announcement not only risks leading to a ‘war winter’ but also threatens our financial stability,” Andersson said, standing alongside Sweden’s financial regulator, central bank governor and finance minister at an emergency press conference on Saturday.
安德松說：「昨天的宣佈不僅有可能導致'戰爭之冬'，而且還威脅到我們的金融穩定，」她與瑞典的金融監管機構、中央銀行行長和財政部長一起站在週六的緊急新聞發佈會上。
Finnish finance minister Annika Saarikko said on Twitter that her country would also act. “The concern is shared. Similar preparations are already well under way in Finland,” Saarikko tweeted.
芬蘭財政部長安妮卡·薩里科(Annika Saarikko)在Twitter上表示，芬蘭也將採取行動。薩里科寫到，「大家都有同感。芬蘭已經在進行類似的準備工作。」
The dramatic actions underscored the seriousness of the situation facing Europe as it scrambles to secure enough energy ahead of winter and tries to avoid the spread of distress among electricity producers.
這些戲劇性的舉動突顯了歐洲面臨的嚴峻形勢。歐洲正在趕在冬季到來之前確保足夠的能源，並試圖避免困境在電力生產商中蔓延。
After surging to an all-time high eight days ago gas and electricity prices cooled slightly this week, with the benchmark European gas and German power contracts both declining by around a third — though they remain about 10 times historical levels. But the prolonged shutdown of Nord Stream 1 could increase volatility and boost prices when trading opens again on Monday.
在8天前飆升至歷史最高水準之後，本週天然氣和電力價格略有降溫，歐洲基準天然氣和德國電力合同均下降了約三分之一，但仍維持在歷史水準的10倍左右。但北溪1號的長期關閉可能會增加波動性，並在週一重新開市時推高價格。
Officials in Brussels are working on several possible ways of helping energy companies, including emergency liquidity support, the two officials said. Margin calls were becoming “far too big” for electricity producers to pay, said one.
這兩位官員說，布魯塞爾的官員正在研究幾種可能的方式來幫助能源公司，包括提供緊急流動性支援。其中一位表示，追加保證金的要求變得「太大了」，電力生產商無力支付。
Other measures could include price caps on either electricity or gas and ways to decouple the gas and electricity markets ahead of longer term reform. “Russians will play with us and we are not well equipped to face that,” said the second official.
其他措施可能包括對電力或天然氣實行價格上限，以及在長期改革之前實現天然氣和電力市場脫鉤。第二名官員表示：「俄羅斯人會跟我們玩手段，而我們沒有充分的準備來面對這一點。」
The European energy market’s big problem
Many European energy companies are profiting from the rise in prices, but there are large discrepancies across the industry.
Those which produce gas or generate electricity using renewables or nuclear — where input costs have not risen — should be making large profits. But those reliant on burning gas for electricity generation are more likely to struggle — especially if they have been cut off from Russian supplies.
Companies’ need to post additional collateral does not mean trades or hedges are unprofitable, but their positions — often linked to providing gas or power to households and businesses — have rapidly become much more expensive to fund.
Companies are struggling to increase their short-term borrowing facilities quickly enough, risking a cash squeeze.
Jakob Magnussen, chief credit analyst at Danske Bank, said the big issue for electricity generators was the need for additional short-term funding.
To hedge their sales generators will normally short electricity futures contracts until the point they actually produce and sell the power into the market, helping guarantee the price they will receive.
But power prices have risen so rapidly in recent weeks that paper losses on the futures contracts have soared, requiring huge amounts of additional collateral to be posted with the exchanges.
“Margin calls are really exploding right now, it’s particularly an issue for smaller utilities,” said Magnussen. “Once the contracts mature and the utilities sell the power they will get their money back, but there’s a huge need for additional short-term funding in the meantime and many banks could be reluctant to increase their exposure so rapidly to the sector.”
歐洲能源市場的大問題
許多歐洲能源公司正在從價格上漲中獲利，但整個行業存在巨大差異。
那些生產天然氣或利用可再生能源或核能發電的企業——在投入成本沒有上升的情況下——應該獲得大量利潤。但那些依靠燃燒天然氣發電的公司更有可能陷入困境——尤其是如果他們已經被切斷了與俄羅斯的供應。
公司需要提供額外的抵押品並不意味著交易或對沖無利可圖，但它們的頭寸——通常與向家庭和企業提供天然氣或電力有關——融資成本已迅速變得高得多。
企業難以迅速獲得足夠的短期借款，從而面臨現金短缺的風險。
丹麥丹斯克銀行(Danske Bank)首席信貸分析師雅各布•馬格努森(Jakob Magnussen)表示，對發電企業來說，最大的問題是需要額外的短期融資。
爲了對沖銷售風險，發電商通常會做空電力期貨合約，直到他們實際生產並向市場出售電力爲止，這有助於保證他們將獲得的價格。
但是，最近幾周電價上漲得如此之快，以至於期貨合約的紙面損失飆升，需要向交易所提供大量的額外抵押品。
馬格努森稱，「目前追加保證金的情況非常嚴重，這對小型公用事業公司尤其是個問題。一旦合同到期，公用事業公司出售電力，它們將收回資金，但與此同時，對額外短期融資的需求非常大，許多銀行可能不願如此迅速地增加對該行業的敞口。」
“We are not afraid of Putin’s decisions, we ask Putin to respect their contracts, but if they don’t respect their contracts, we are ready to react,” Paolo Gentiloni, the EU’s economy commissioner, told reporters on Saturday in comments reported by newswires.
「我們不害怕普丁的決定，我們要求普丁尊重他們的合同，但如果他們不尊重他們的合同，我們準備做出反應，」歐盟經濟專員保羅·真蒂洛尼(Paolo Gentiloni)週六在新聞通訊社的評論中告訴記者。
Eurozone policymakers think that decisions should be made at a national level, according to one person with knowledge of their discussions.
據一位知情人士透露，歐元區政策制定者認爲，決策應在國家層面做出。
Jean Francois Lambert, founder of Lambert Commodities and former head of commodity trade finance at HSBC, said other countries were likely to intervene in their energy markets.
蘭伯特商品公司(Lambert Commodities)創辦人、滙豐銀行大宗商品貿易融資部前主管讓•弗朗索瓦•蘭伯特(Jean Francois Lambert)表示，其他國家很可能會對其能源市場進行干預。
“The crisis is moving into the next stage. If one of the large energy companies collapses there are fears there could be a domino effect,” he said. “The call for liquidity is so enormous that maybe one day we have a problem that could harm the whole market.”
「危機正在進入下一個階段。如果一家大型能源公司倒閉，人們擔心可能會產生多米諾骨牌效應。對流動性的需求是如此巨大，也許有一天我們會遇到一個問題，可能會損害整個市場。」
While the threat of contagion to the wider financial sector was limited, governments needed to act to stop energy markets from “freezing up”, he added.
他補充稱，儘管危機蔓延至更廣泛金融領域的威脅有限，但各國政府需要採取行動，阻止能源市場「凍結」。
Andersson said that Sweden’s support would apply to all Nordic and Baltic players, and would need approval by the Swedish parliament’s finance committee on Monday.
安德松表示，瑞典的支援將適用於所有北歐和波羅的海國家，並需要瑞典議會財政委員會週一批准。
“We need to isolate this in one market so it doesn’t infect the financial sector,” said Stefan Ingves, governor of the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank.
瑞典央行(Riksbank)行長斯特凡•英維斯(Stefan Ingves)表示：「我們需要將這種情況隔離在一個市場中，以免影響到金融業。」
The Swedish authorities said they saw no immediate risk to financial stability, but were worried that otherwise-solvent companies could struggle to find enough liquidity, causing potential ripple effects.
瑞典當局表示，他們沒有看到對金融穩定的直接風險，但擔心其他破產的公司可能難以找到足夠的流動資金，造成潛在的連鎖反應。
“Russia is waging an energy war against Europe to divide us. But we will not let Putin succeed,” Andersson said.
「俄羅斯正在對歐洲發動一場能源戰爭來分裂我們。但我們不會讓普丁得逞，」安德松說。
Andersson’s comments come a week before parliamentary elections in Sweden with polls pointing to a tight outcome. She said her centre-left government stood ready to act, just as it did over the Covid-19 pandemic.
安德松的評論是在瑞典議會選舉前一週發表的，民意調查顯示選舉結果很激烈。她說，她的中左翼政府隨時準備採取行動，就像在應對Covid-19大流行病時那樣。
Erik Thedéen, head of Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority, said power prices in Sweden had risen 11-fold in the past year, leading to a jump in collateral demands.
瑞典金融監管局局長Erik Thedéen說，瑞典的電力價格在過去一年中上漲了11倍，導致抵押品需求猛增。
He added that without liquidity support electricity producers could face bankruptcies and large losses that could “rock” the clearing house. “It is under very severe stress,” he said.
他補充說，如果沒有流動性支援，電力生產商可能會面臨破產和鉅額虧損，這可能會「撼動」清算所。「它承受著非常嚴重的壓力，」他說。
Lambert said the situation was not yet a financial crisis. “The large banks in Germany, France, Italy and Spain should be able to stomach this. But if one of their large customers traps them in a liquidity squeeze then you could see all the banks pulling back,” he said.
蘭伯特說，目前的情況還不是金融危機。「德國、法國、義大利和西班牙的大型銀行應該能夠承受。但如果它們的某個大客戶讓它們陷入流動性緊縮，那麼所有銀行都可能撤出，」他表示。
In July, the German government agreed a €15bn rescue package for Uniper, Europe’s largest buyer of Russian gas, and said it would take a 30 per cent stake in the company. It had been losing tens of millions of euros a day since Gazprom first cut supplies of gas to Germany through Nord Stream earlier this year.
今年7月，德國政府同意向歐洲最大的俄羅斯天然氣買家Uniper提供150億歐元的紓困方案，並表示將持有該公司30%的股份。自今年早些時候俄羅斯天然氣工業股份公司首次切斷透過北溪管道向德國供應天然氣以來，該公司每天虧損數千萬歐元。
Late last month Uniper requested €4bn more, as soaring gas prices burnt up its cash reserves. Uniper, majority-owned by Fortum of Finland, said it had already drawn down a €9bn credit line from state development bank KfW.
上月末，由於飆升的天然氣價格耗盡了Uniper的現金儲備，該公司要求再增加40億歐元。由芬蘭富騰(Fortum)控股的Uniper表示，該公司已從國家開發銀行復興信貸銀行(KfW)獲得90億歐元的信貸額度。
Fortum warned on Monday that its collateral requirements had risen by €1bn to €5bn in the previous week, and that a default by a smaller player would cause “severe disturbances to the Nordic power system”.
富騰週一警告說，其抵押品要求在上一週增加了10億歐元，達到了50億歐元，而且一個小公司的違約將導致「北歐電力系統受到嚴重干擾」。
Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin and Martin Arnold in Frankfurt
蓋伊·查贊(Guy Chazan)柏林、馬丁·阿諾德(Martin Arnold)法蘭克福補充報導