Prices of natural gas that move up and down in a volatile manner due to a host of influences, many of which tend to be dictated by supply, demand and climate changes. Just as an example, when an earthquake in 2007 forced a Japanese nuclear plant to close, utilities there ramped up natural gas use and prices soared in Japan, which in turn drove up prices in Europe. The global scramble for scarce LNG then worsened as a drought hit Spain towards the end of the same year, cutting Spain’s ability to use hydroelectric power. Spain normally leans on Algeria and Egypt for LNG imports, but in February 2008 those countries were busy shipping to Japan where prices were twice as high as in Spain. Spain then turned to Trinidad for imports. This meant less gas for the closer – but lower priced – US market, which in the past has taken most of Trinidad’s output. Trinidad’s shipments to the US through the first two months of the 2008 were down 31%.