Asia spot prices gain on hot weather, Australia facility outage
By Emily Chow
SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) -Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices rose to a six-month top this week, on the back of cooling demand in India, higher forecast temperatures in northeast Asia and suspended production at an Australian gas facility.
The average LNG price for July delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $12.60 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), its highest levels since December 15, industry sources estimated.
The August delivery price was estimated at $12.70/mmBtu.
"The strength of demand in Asia has provided some support to prices and differentials ... The level of tendering activity has remained high due to a combination of fundamental drivers across countries, including strong economic activity, hot weather, challenging upstream production and restocking demand," said Lucas Schmitt, research director on short-term LNG at Wood Mackenzie.
"We expect Asian summer LNG demand to increase year-on-year, but at a softer rate than in the last few months. Inventories for key northeast Asian markets seem broadly balanced."
Spot demand from India remains strong as a heatwave persists, but northeast Asian buying activity has mainly been for trade optimization despite the meteorological agencies of Japan and Korea forecasting a 50% probability of above-normal temperatures in June and July, said Rystad Energy analyst Lu Ming Pang in a note.
"Despite the impending warm weather forecasts, there is still a lack of significant market activity, which may suggest sufficient supplies for the summer season ahead. At current prices, it is likely that Northeast Asian players will bide their time to evaluate developments in summer requirements."
On the supply side, Chevron had suspended production at its Wheatstone gas facility in Australia to repair the platform's fuel gas system. It has commenced repair work, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The production suspension supported Europe gas prices this week. S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in July on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.151/mmBtu on June 13, a $0.07/mmBtu discount to the July gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.
Argus assessed the July delivery price at $11.10/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed it at $11.122/mmBtu.
But low European demand for gas has kept storage levels at record highs this year, with Wood Mackenzie forecasting gas storage will be full by end-September and remain full until end-October, with an additional 4 million metric tonnes per annum (tpa) of floating storage also accumulated.
"Limitations on European injection demand this summer and weak downstream consumption continue to weigh on the region's LNG receipts," said Samuel Good, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus.
"An open inter-basin arbitrage for Atlantic loadings is continuing to draw LNG away from Europe and to Asia instead, where demand has remained strong even as Asian spot delivered prices have risen well into the double digits."
Meanwhile, LNG freight rates experienced sharp increases this week, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan, with the Atlantic spot rate rising to $64,250/day on Friday, and the Pacific rate gaining to $48,000/day.
Reporting by Emily Chow; editing by David Evans
Ativos relacionados
Últimas notícias
Isenção de Responsabilidade: As entidades do XM Group proporcionam serviço de apenas-execução e acesso à nossa plataforma online de negociação, permitindo a visualização e/ou uso do conteúdo disponível no website ou através deste, o que não se destina a alterar ou a expandir o supracitado. Tal acesso e uso estão sempre sujeitos a: (i) Termos e Condições; (ii) Avisos de Risco; e (iii) Termos de Responsabilidade. Este, é desta forma, fornecido como informação generalizada. Particularmente, por favor esteja ciente que os conteúdos da nossa plataforma online de negociação não constituem solicitação ou oferta para iniciar qualquer transação nos mercados financeiros. Negociar em qualquer mercado financeiro envolve um nível de risco significativo de perda do capital.
Todo o material publicado na nossa plataforma de negociação online tem apenas objetivos educacionais/informativos e não contém — e não deve ser considerado conter — conselhos e recomendações financeiras, de negociação ou fiscalidade de investimentos, registo de preços de negociação, oferta e solicitação de transação em qualquer instrumento financeiro ou promoção financeira não solicitada direcionadas a si.
Qual conteúdo obtido por uma terceira parte, assim como o conteúdo preparado pela XM, tais como, opiniões, pesquisa, análises, preços, outra informação ou links para websites de terceiras partes contidos neste website são prestados "no estado em que se encontram", como um comentário de mercado generalizado e não constitui conselho de investimento. Na medida em que qualquer conteúdo é construído como pesquisa de investimento, deve considerar e aceitar que este não tem como objetivo e nem foi preparado de acordo com os requisitos legais concebidos para promover a independência da pesquisa de investimento, desta forma, deve ser considerado material de marketing sob as leis e regulações relevantes. Por favor, certifique-se que leu e compreendeu a nossa Notificação sobre Pesquisa de Investimento não-independente e o Aviso de Risco, relativos à informação supracitada, os quais podem ser acedidos aqui.
