Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet rose slightly this week, while European prices dropped compared to the previous week.
Last week, Spark30s Atlantic rates continued to experience record week-on-week increases for 2024, rising to $87,000 per day.
“Spark30s Atlantic rates rose by $2,500 to $89,500 per day this week, the smallest week-on-week increase in seven weeks and mirroring a similar plateauing of Atlantic spot rates this time last year,” Qasim Afghan, Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday.
“This coincides with the US arb to NE-Asia via COGH, which had been open for much of the year and remained marginal for the last few weeks, currently being firmly closed for the next 11 months,” he said.
Afghan said that Spark25S Pacific rates rose by a marginal $500 this week to $52,250 per day.
European prices decrease
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month was down compared to the prior week.
The price remained steady last week, with the front month price for July delivery assessed at $10.731/MMBtu.
“SparkNWE DES LNG front month price for August delivery is assessed at $10.411/MMBtu and at a $0.12/MMBtu discount to the TTF,” Afghan said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to rise and storages were 78.10 percent full on July 3.
Gas storages were 76.20 percent full on June 26, and 78.03 percent full on July 3 last year.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, for August settled at $12.420/MMBtu on Wednesday.
Last week, JKM for July settled at 12.635/MMBtu on Friday.
JKM dropped to 12.535/MMBtu on Monday and rose slightly to 12.560/MMBtu on Tuesday.
LNG futures traded volumes in H1
S&P Global Commodity Insights said in a report this week that LNG futures traded volumes in the first half of 2024 rose year-on-year due to increased trading activity in the cargo market and stabilizing Asia-Pacific spot LNG prices.
The total traded volumes recorded for JKM LNG futures and JKM LNG balance-month next-day futures in January-June reached 495,581 lots, up 71.55 percent from 288,888 lots in the same period last year, according to Intercontinental Exchange data.
Asia-Pacific spot LNG prices in the first half of 2024 traded in a narrower price range compared with the same period.
JKM moved in a rage of $8-$13/MMBtu in the first half of 2024, compared with $8-$23/MMBtu in the first half of 2024, S&P Global Commodity Insights said.
The Japan-Korea-Taiwan-China region imported about 106.36 million mt of LNG cargoes in the first half of this year, an increase of about 7.25 million mt year on year, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The total traded volumes for LNG futures in the first half of this year were equivalent to 95.3 million mt of LNG cargoes, the report said.