Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet declined this week as vessel availability increased, according to Spark Commodities.
Last week, the spot rates stood at $197,750 per day in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, up $15,000 per day week-on-week on the Atlantic Spark30 route and $10,000 per day week-on-week on the Pacific Spark25 route.
“Spot LNG freight rates fell this week, particularly in the Atlantic Basin where a narrowing of October23 to November23 contango closed floating storage opportunities freeing up prompt vessels,” Edward Armitage, Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday.
“In the Atlantic, the Spark30S rate ended the week at $174,000 per day, down $23,750 per day week-on-week, stopping short of hitting $200,000 per day earlier in the week,” he said.
Moreover, the Pacific Spark25S rate ended the week at $189,000 per day, down $8,750 per day week-on-week, Armitage said.
As per European LNG pricing, SparkNWE DES LNG front month dropped from the last week.
Last week, NWE DES LNG for October was assessed at $11.912 per MMBtu, a $0.305 discount to the TTF price.
“SparkNWE DES LNG for October23 deliveries was assessed at $11.896/MMBtu, a $0.405 discount to the Ocobert23 TTF price,” Armitage said on Friday.
The TTF price for October settled at $12.415 per MMBtu on Thursday, while the JKM spot LNG price for November settled at $14.760 per MMBtu.
This week, state-owned Pakistan LNG released a tender inviting firms to submit bids for two spot shipments for delivery in December.
The delivery windows include December 7-8 and December 13-14 and the tender closes on October 4.
Pakistan LNG has not issued a tender for cargoes since June this year, when it launched two tenders for spot cargoes.