Asian spot LNG prices down on muted demand
By Marwa Rashad
LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) -Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices fell this week amid limited demand for November deliveries and as supply concerns related to Hurricane Francine's impact on U.S. LNG facilities eased.
The average LNG price for October delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $13.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), industry sources estimated, down from $13.40/mmBtu last week.
The price for November delivery was estimated at £13.05/mmBtu, the sources added.
"Supply concerns in both the Atlantic and Pacific basins have eased. Hurricane Francine did not pass directly over any LNG export terminals on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and has only noticeably impacted one terminal — the 15 million tons per year Cameron facility," said Martin Senior, deputy head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus.
Despite falling back a little from their mid-August highs, global gas prices are still strong, said Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.
"The market is balancing at a high level due to continued strong demand with little additional supply coming into the market. Asia has been buying more this year, and there is some renewed interest in spot cargoes from China ahead of winter and Egypt has put out a large tender for winter cargoes," Froley said.
Egypt's recent tender seeking 20 LNG cargoes to cover winter demand after a steep decline in domestic gas output has been fully awarded, four trading sources told Reuters.
Argus' Senior said that some firms in Europe held back un-committed cargoes to participate in Egypt's 20-cargo tender, which closed on Thursday and more supply could be offered to the market in the coming weeks now that the tender has concluded.
In Europe, the market remains in a comfortable position, with high underground gas storage levels ahead of winter and no significant extensions to ongoing Norwegian maintenance.
"German company Uniper's tanker the LNG Rosenrot has just diverted its course away from Gate terminal in the Netherlands to head to Tangshan in China instead, turning south mid-Atlantic. This could be an indicator that Europe remains relatively comfortable at present," ICIS' Froley said.
S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in October on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.204/mmBtu on Sept. 12, a $0.20/mmBtu discount to the October gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.
Spark Commodities assessed the price at $11.211/mmBtu, while Argus assessed it at $11.250/mmBtu.
Atlantic and Pacific LNG freight rates were down for the fifth week running, with the Atlantic rates falling to $57,750/day on Friday, and the Pacific rates down to $73,500/day, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.
Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Nina Chestney
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