SINGAPORE: Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices remained at a near one-year low this week, as supply disruptions from three export facilities in the region and some buying interest capped losses fuelled by overall weak demand.
The average LNG price for June delivery into north-east Asia was at $11.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), estimated industry sources, down from $11.80/mmBtu last week but still at its lowest levels since mid-May.
“Lower Asian LNG prices this week prompted opportunistic buying by some East Asian importers, while supply disruptions at export projects in Australia and Brunei provided support to otherwise falling regional fundamentals,” said Rystad senior analyst Masanori Odaka, adding that Korea Gas Corporation, Taiwan’s CPC Corporation and a Chinese importer had recently made spot purchases.
“While some Asian importers took advantage of the dip to make purchases, others adopted a wait and-see approach as they evaluated turbulent market conditions amid sufficient storage levels.”
Inpex Corp, which operates Australia’s Ichthys LNG, said the rate of production at the plant has decreased temporarily, without specifying why or when full production would resume.
In Southeast Asia, industry and trade sources said that both Malaysia’s Bintulu LNG complex and the Brunei LNG plant were also experiencing production issues, with Brunei LNG cancelling a tender issued this month for a June delivered cargo.
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Despite production outages in the Pacific, the inter-basin arbitrage has held closed for prompt deliveries, with only one carrier diverting in the mid-Atlantic towards Asia on April 16, said Martin Senior, head of LNG pricing at commodities pricing agency Argus.
“Asian buyers have not since made a significant move to compete for Atlantic basin cargoes since the production outages,” he said.
In Europe, S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in June on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.124/mmBtu on April 16, a $0.735/mmBtu discount to the June gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.
Argus assessed the price for June delivery at $11.29/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed the May price at $10.945/mmBtu.
“Discounts to the TTF for May delivery remain $0.20/mmBtu wider than for June delivery, as regasification terminal maintenance in northwest Europe in May has pushed buyers to find regasification slots in more expensive terminals, or terminals delivering to lower priced hubs than the TTF,” said Senior.
Meanwhile, the U.S. front month arbitrage to north-east Asia via the Cape of Good Hope is now only marginally pointing to Europe, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.
In LNG freight, Atlantic rates dropped for a fourth week to $21,750/day on Thursday, he added, while Pacific rates fell to $23,250/day.
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