Asia spot LNG prices above 7-month high on hot weather, Mideast tensions
By Marwa Rashad
LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) -Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices rose this week to their highest level in over seven months as high temperatures in Japan and South Korea boosted power demand and amid heightened geopolitical risks due to tensions in the Middle East.
The average LNG price for September delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $12.80 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), industry sources estimated. This is the highest level since mid-December and up from $12.00/mmBtu last week.
"The spot LNG market has been bullish this week, with Europe and Asia both gaining almost $1/mmBtu from the end of last week," said Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.
"High temperatures in Japan have boosted energy demand. Traders are also keeping an eye on tensions in the Middle East," he said.
Hot weather in Japan and South Korea is driving gas burn, drawing terminal LNG stocks lower. However, the consumption has yet to translate into substantial spot LNG demand, said Samuel Good, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus.
The killing of a Hamas leader in Iran has raised concerns that the 10-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas was turning into a wider Middle East war.
"Market participants have increased their risk premium based on the higher risk that supply disruptions may occur in the coming months if the tensions escalate further," said Hans Van Cleef, chief energy economist at PZ Energy.
The prospects of Iran getting more actively involved in a conflict remains unlikely but still poses a risk of a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, what would affect global LNG-markets significantly, Van Cleef added.
On the supply side, Russia's Sakhalin plant has ongoing maintenance and loaded only five cargoes in July, compared with normal output of around 15-16 cargoes, ICIS' Froley said.
Australia's Ichthys LNG, operated by Japan's Inpex Corp 1605.T, has resumed operations following an outage at one of its trains and is operating at 70-80% capacity, sources told Reuters.
In Europe, rising geopolitical risk, higher temperatures, upcoming Norwegian Continental Shelf maintenance in September, and the strengthening of Asian prices, saw north-west Europe LNG prices rally 11.5% over the week, said Karim El Afany, managing editor of Atlantic LNG at S&P Global Commodity Insights.
S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in September on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.475/mmBtu on Aug. 1, a $0.17/mmBtu discount to the September gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.
Argus assessed the August delivery price at $11.50/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed it at $11.613/mmBtu, saying this was the highest price since early December, and the narrowest discount to the TTF since August 2023.
Atlantic LNG freight rates fell for the fourth consecutive week to $73,700/day on Friday, while the Pacific rates rose for the sixth week running to $75,250/day, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.
Reporting by Marwa Rashad; additional reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Nina Chestney
Eng oxirgi yangiliklar
Javobgarlikdan voz kechish: XM Group korxonalari har biri faqat ijro xizmatlarini koʻrsatadi va onlayn savdo platformamizdan foydalanish huquqini beradi, bu odamga veb-saytda yoki veb-sayt orqali mavjud boʻlgan kontentni koʻrish va/yoki undan foydalanishga ruxsat beradi hamda uni oʻzgartirishga moʻljallanmagan va uni oʻzgartirmaydi yoki kengaytirmaydi. Bunday kirish va foydalanish huquqi doimo quyidagilarga boʻysunadi: (i) Shartlar va qoidalar; (ii) Risklar haqida ogohlantirish; va (iii) Javobgarlikni toʻliq rad etish. Shuning uchun bunday kontent umumiy maʼlumot sifatida taqdim etiladi. Xususan, shuni esda tutingki, bizning onlayn savdo platformamiz mazmuni moliyaviy bozorlarda biror bitimni amalga oshirishga oid maslahat yoki taklif emas. Har qanday moliyaviy bozorda savdo qilish sizning kapitalingiz uchun jiddiy risk darajasini oʻz ichiga oladi.
Onlayn savdo platformamizda chop etilgan barcha materiallar faqat taʼlim/axborot maqsadlari uchun moʻljallangan va unda moliyaviy, investitsiya soligʻi yoki savdo maslahatlari va tavsiyalar; yoki bizning savdo narxlarimizning qaydlari; yoki har qanday moliyaviy vositalar bilan bitim tuzish maslahati yoki taklifi; yoki sizga kerak boʻlmagan moliyaviy reklama aksiyalari hisoblanmaydi
Har qanday uchinchi tomon kontenti, shuningdek XM tomonidan tayyorlangan kontent, masalan: fikrlar, yangiliklar, tadqiqotlar, tahlillar, narxlar va boshqa maʼlumotlar yoki bu veb-saytda joylashgan uchinchi tomon saytlariga havolalar umumiy bozor sharhi sifatida "boricha" taqdim etiladi va investitsiya maslahatini tashkil etmaydi. Har qanday kontent investitsiya tadqiqoti sifatida talqin qilinsa, siz bunday kontentni investitsiya tadqiqotlarining mustaqilligini ragʻbatlantirish uchun moʻljallangan qonun talablariga muvofiq moʻljallanmagan va tayyorlanmaganligini eʼtiborga olishingiz va qabul qilishingiz kerak, shuning uchun unga tegishli qonunlar va qoidalarga muvofiq marketing kommunikatsiyasi sifatida qaraladi. Mustaqil boʻlmagan investitsiya tadqiqoti va yuqoridagi maʼlumotlarga oid risk haqida ogohlantirishimizni oʻqib chiqqaningizga va tushunganingizga ishonch hosil qiling, unga bu yerdan kirish mumkin.
