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Last week, Atlantic LNG shipping rates slid to a record low, reaching just $15,500 per day.
“Spark30S Atlantic rate has increased by $2,000 per day to $17,500 per day compared to last week’s price, although the value remains one of the lowest observed historically,” Anais La Chon, Spark’s data analyst, told LNG Prime on Friday.
“Similarly, Spark25S Pacific rate has also increased by $1,000 per day to $24,000 per day for 174 2-stroke vessels assessments,” La Chon said.
LNG shipping firms expect spot LNG charter rates to remain weak by the end of this year mainly due to a large number of newbuilds entering the market.
European prices down from last week
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG dropped compared to $14.635/MMBtu last week.
SparkNWE DES LNG fell by $0.552/MMBtu week-on-week to $14.083/MMBtu
“A widening of the JKM-TTF spread this week helped to tighten the US arb (via the Cape of Good Hope) for December loading from -$0.257/MMBtu to -$0.130/MMBtu,” La Chon said.
“As of today, for the US arbs to Asia versus Europe to breakeven, freight rates must fall to $7,750 per day,” La Chon said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to decline and were 86.65 percent full on November 27.
Gas storages were 89.41 percent full on November 20 and 98.13 percent full on November 27, 2023.
Last week, TTF prices rose mostly due to Gazprom’s supply halt to Austria’s OMV and anticipated winter heating demand.
With winter having begun and heating demand cutting through European storage, the European balance has tightened its last recorded storage, Wood Mackenzie said in a recent report.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in January 2025 settled at $15.020/MMBtu on Wednesday.
Last week, JKM for January settled at 14.785/MMBtu on Friday, November 22.
Front-month JKM rose to 15.015/MMBtu on Monday. It dropped to 14.940/MMBtu on Tuesday and rose to 15.020/MMBtu on Wednesday.
State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said in a report earlier this week that JKM for last week (November 18 – November 22) rose to mid-$15s on November 22 from high-$13s the previous weekend.
“In the beginning of the week, JKM rose due to falling temperatures mainly. Then rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the middle of the week made the price its highest level since December 2023,” JOGMEC said.
Venture Global sells Plaquemines LNG cargoes
S&P Global Commodity Insights said on Thursday, citing multiple trade sources, that US LNG exporter Venture Global LNG has sold LNG cargoes from its new Plaquemines terminal for the initial months of 2025 through a short-term strip offered earlier in 2024
The LNG sales, totaling about four to five cargoes per month on a free-on-board and destination ex-ship basis, affirm expectations that Plaquemines could commence LNG exports from January 2025, the report said.
Venture Global had offered an LNG strip loading from the Plaquemines terminal as early as October in anticipation of the project’s early startup, the report said.
According to the report, the LNG cargoes sold from January onward designate the Plaquemines terminal as the load port, with Venture Global retaining the option to nominate Calcasieu Pass as an alternate loading port
Venture Global recently received approval from the US FERC to introduce hazardous fluids to the first liquefaction block at its Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana.
Also, Venture Global’s newbuild carrier, Venture Bayou, recently arrived at the Plaquemines LNG export plant as the facility nears the launch of its first LNG production.
Prior to this vessel, the Plaquemines LNG facility received a cool-down cargo in August onboard the 2020-built 174,000-cbm, Qogir.