Healthy supplies weigh on price
Published by Joseph Green,
Editor
LNG Industry,
Reuters are reporting that Asian spot LNG prices dropped for the eighth consecutive week on healthy supply and subdued demand with recent tender awards confirming the downward trend.
Spot prices for LNG for April delivery LNG-AS were pegged at approximately US$6.00 per mmBtu, down 20 cents on the previous week.
May prices dropped to US$5.80 per mmBtu, although some traders had difficulty in assessing the month's value due to a lack of deals.
Thailand's PTT and Gail India both purchased one April cargo at a price estimated to be slightly above or below US$6 per mmBtu.
Despite average to warmer weather in Japan from March to May, pockets of demand persist. A Japanese end-user has a requirement for an April shipment while another seeks a May cargo, likely tempted by low prices to refill inventory ahead of the summer cooling season, one industry watcher said.
Meanwhile, Gail India's time-swap deal with Swiss trader Gunvor to offload some of its US gas volumes will begin with Gunvor delivering 15 cargoes to Gail between April and December this year.
The deal should significantly cut Gail's demand for spot shipments, potentially contributing to an easing market as new production gets underway in Australia and the US.
In the Atlantic, Argentina state-run energy firm Enarsa launched a tender seeking 20 cargoes between June and August.
LNG prices are under pressure amid rising supplies of spot cargoes as projects offer spot buyers volumes that would have otherwise been shipped to term customers.
Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/08032017/healthy-supplies-weigh-on-price/
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