Asian spot LNG price little changed on muted demand
By Marwa Rashad
LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) -Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices were little changed this week amid tepid demand and limited market activity with many traders attending an industry conference in the United States.
The average LNG price for November delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $13.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), slightly down from $13.20/mmBtu last week, industry sources estimated.
Prices are expected to remain stable in the coming week as supply continues to recover, despite seasonal cooling demand in north-east Asia, said Charles Costerousse, senior LNG analyst at data analytics firm Kpler.
"The supply situation in Asia still looks comfortable with the shoulder months (between a peak and off-peak season) and less temperature-related demand. Still, storages across Asia are relatively full, denting any re-stocking demand for the coming winter," said Klaas Dozeman, market analyst at Brainchild Commodity Intelligence.
In south and south-east Asia, additional demand has been emerging, with Indian and Thai firms among those coming to the market for near-term deliveries, although Indian demand is likely to wane on weaker power demand and late monsoon rainfall, said Samuel Good, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus.
In Europe, the benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF gas hub has broken an upwards trend and entered a more neutral phase, said Hans van Cleef, chief energy economist at PZ Energy Research & Strategy.
He added that this is partly due to European inventories being well-filled, with more than one month to go of the normal filling season.
S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in November on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $10.985/mmBtu on Sept. 19, a $0.22/mmBtu discount to the November gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.
Argus assessed the price for November delivery at $11.000/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed the October price at $10.650/mmBtu.
In LNG freight, Atlantic prices rose for the first time in six weeks to $59,750/day on Friday, whereas the Pacific rates declined for the sixth week running to $73,000/day, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.
Argus' Good said that there has been little competition from Europe for Atlantic LNG, adding that high vessel availability and a lack of incentive for large-scale floating storage continue to weigh heavily on the spot charter market, keeping a lid on rates.
Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Nina Chestney
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