Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet fell for the third week in a row, and are now at levels 65 percent below the rates seen at this time last year, according to Spark Commodities.
Last week, spot LNG freight rates continued their downward trend.
The Spark30S rate fell $27,000 per day week-on-week to reach $147,000 per day, while the spot rate on the Pacific Spark25 route fell $20,750 per day week-on-week to reach $168,250 per day.
“The Spark30S Atlantic declined $11,500 to $135,500 per day, and the Spark25S Pacific declined $32,750 to $135,500 per day,” Henry Bennett, Spark’s head of pricing told LNG Prime on Friday.
European LNG prices jump
As per European LNG pricing, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month jumped from the last week.
Last week, the NWE DES LNG for November was assessed at $10.489/MMBtu, a $0.685 discount to the November23 TTF price.
“The SparkNWE DES LNG rallied over 40 percent this week to $15.781/MMBtu for November deliveries on heightened geopolitical tensions, tracking gains in the TTF gas price as the NWE LNG to TTF differential remained steady at a discount of $0.615/MMBtu,” Bennett said.
The TTF price for November settled at $16.460/MMBtu on Thursday, while the JKM spot LNG price for November settled at $14.360/MMBtu.
Workers at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG plants in Western Australia recently informed the energy giant on their plan to resume strikes on October 19 as part of an ongoing dispute.
Unions representing workers at the 15.5 mtpa Gorgon and the 8.9 mtpa Wheatstone LNG export terminals and the Wheatstone offshore platform in Western Australia decided on September 22 to suspend strikes.
However, the unions decided to resume the strikes as Chevron has “reneged on the commitment they gave to the Fair Work Commission” to incorporate FWC’s recommendations into the enterprise agreements.
Chevron said it is working with the unions to resolve the remaining issues between the parties in order to progress drafting of the proposed enterprise agreements.
