In General Energy News 02/04/2015
The Platts JKM for May deliveries fell 20 cents/MMBtu over the Asian trading week to close at $7.275/MMBtu Thursday, April 2, on lower offers and limited spot demand in the region.
Offers at and above $8/MMBtu had largely disappeared by the end of the week, with most sell indications heard in the mid- to high-$7s/MMBtu.
Bids on the other hand, remained largely stable at around $7/MMBtu.
Negotiations for May delivery to China’s private buyers were heard in the high $7s/MMBtu, due to uncertainty over importers’ credit rating and availability of delivery slots at PetroChina’s Dalian terminal, which offers the most flexible timeline to consume the imported LNG.
In India, May spot negotiations were heard at around $7/MMBtu, with offers in the low $7s/MMBtu and bids below $7/MMBtu.
June trade started to attract some buy and sell interest in North Asia, with bids and offers heard in the high-$6s/MMBtu and the mid-$7s/MMBtu, respectively.
Some opportunistic demand remained outstanding in India and China, with potential for Taiwan’s CPC and one or two Japanese utility buyers to take prompt cargoes.
Elsewhere, end-user demand was largely muted on bearish sentiment and abundant supply from recent tenders, term contracts and strip supply agreements.
Buy interest from sellers and traders looking to optimize positions also appeared to have dried up as the spread between North Asian LNG and UK NBP natural gas prices narrowed throughout the week.
On the supply side, May cargoes were still heard available from Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and Australia, although the number of uncommitted cargoes has decreased following recent deals.
The most recent deal heard was PetroChina buying from Malaysia’s Bintulu in the low $7s/MMBtu for April delivery.
In Japan, utility Kyushu Electric was heard to have concluded a strip deal for seven cargoes from Indonesia’s Bontang at a slope of around 12% to JCC.
In India, GSPC reissued a tender seeking one DES cargo for delivery in early May, following an earlier tender for April delivery that was not awarded.
In Thailand, PTT issued a tender to buy one late May or early June DES cargo on Tuesday.
The tender closes at 5 pm local time (1000 GMT) on April 6, with validity until April 8, market sources said.
In shipping, Egypt’s new FSRU Hoegh Gallant was seen stationary just off Egypt’s Ain Sukhna Port in the Gulf of Suez, where the recently built terminal is located, Platts ship tracking software cFlow showed.
The vessel is carrying a cargo from Qatar’s LNG export plant in Ras Laffan.
Egypt’s LNG buyer Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, or Egas, has chartered the vessel from shipowner Hoegh LNG for a period of five years starting in the second quarter of 2015.
