Transactions that are for less than one year. 10-12% of world LNG is traded on spot deals. The leading LNG spot exporters are Trinidad, Algeria, Oman and Qatar where spot LNG deals are seen as a complement to their long term trading and reduces the risk of starting a liquefaction plant without a gas sales and purchasing agreement covering the entire plant capacity. On the import side, the US has been the main driver for imports of spot LNG where LNG has mostly been based on short term transactions. Also on the demand side of the equation LNG spot helps to fill the gap between gas contracted for on a long term basis and actual demand of a given market. In so far as terminals are concerned this is often restricted by scheduling, storage and downstream pipeline constraints. A secondary source of spot LNG is what is known as re-direction of cargoes. . From the logistic point of view, the development of a spot LNG market requires surplus capacity of shipping and receiving terminals